Consequence of Being Different
by purrpickle
Summary: Buffy/X-Men. Willow and Faith have arrived in Sunnydale and enrolled in Sunnydale High, 10th grade. While trying to hide their mutant powers, they have to deal with the Watcher's Council, Buffy, and a newly arrived Tara Maclay... Femslash W/T F/B?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hiya. This is an AU sort of crossover with X-Men Evolution, but if you're looking for definite details from that series, you definitely won't find them here. I took A LOT of liberties. I mean it. Anyway, femslash, yada yada. Don't own anything. Takes place first season Buffy. Sorta follows the timeline, but you'll notice the changes… *grins* Add in mutants and Faith and Tara, and now the story unfolds…

***

Faith slamming the locker door near her face startled her from her thoughts. "Red," her best friend teased, "What'cha thinking about? That hottie in Math class?"

Willow blushed, playfully hitting the brunette on the shoulder. Shouldering her books into the crook of her arm, she shut her own locker loudly. "Nah. Buffy's hot, but not my type. You can have her."

Faith grinned, winking. "Who says I haven't already? That is one mean piece of ass…" She whistled under her breath.

Willow rolled her eyes. "I dunno, Faithy. She's hot, true, but…"

"She's just not your type."

"Right." The redhead nodded.

Faith shook her head, blowing air out of her mouth in exasperation. "Red," she started, walking towards where they had Study Hall in the Library, "You gotta stop this. How do you know what –_is-_ your type if you've never had a type? Sometimes you just gotta follow the call of the wild." She rolled her hips suggestively, a rakish grin crossing her attractive face.

"Like you and Cordelia?"

Faith shuddered. "-_Don't-_ remind me! I was drunk at the time. Drunk and lonely. So was she. End of story."

Willow grinned over at her, opening the double doors for the both of them. "Right. That's what you always say."

Faith was about to reply, but Mr. Giles, the librarian, noticing who had walked in, approached. "Ms. Lehane, Ms. Rosenberg." He addressed both of them, nodding at each. Willow and Faith nodded back. "Uhm, if I may, see you two after class…?"

Faith shrugged her shoulders, knowing what it was about. "Sure, Mr. G," she said for the account of anyone else who might have been listening, "Willow and I didn't really –_mean-_ to have so many overdue books, but gee, they're so –_interesting-_."

Willow smothered a laugh at her friend's innocent expression, and nodded along.

"Yes, well," Giles coughed slightly, "What about all the other people who want to read them?" He stood there awkwardly for a second before hurrying back behind his desk.

Faith snorted, grabbing Willow's arm and dragging her over to where they usually sat before anyone else could take the last seats. "Really, Red," she asked, dropping her books unceremoniously onto the table with a crashing sound; Giles' head snapped up nervously before he saw who had made the noise, and then went back to sorting his overdue book flyers, "-_Who-_ really comes in here if they aren't you-know-what?"

"What? Weird?" Willow asked.

Faith made a face at her.

Willow lowered her voice, nodding, "I know. But be nice to him. He's paranoid. He didn't have it easy in England." She carefully drew out her school notebook from her backpack, along with her collection of colored pens. Arranging them in the colors of the rainbow on the table space before her, she nodded, suddenly all business, "Now! What homework didn't you finish last night?"

"Who do you take me for?" Faith brushed some bangs behind her ear, turning to her best friend with a shocked expression on her face.

"Right." Smiling, Willow reached across and removed Faith's day planner from her pile of discarded books. Above them, the bell signaling the start of another school day at Sunnydale High sent last minute students squirreling between the double doors, hastily taking the nearest open seats.

Faith rested her elbow on the table in front of her, propping the side of her face into her palm, gazing with relaxed eyes at the girl next to her. "You know," she started, her low voice getting uncharacteristically soft, reaching out to gently brush some stray bangs away from Willow's down turned gaze as she whispered to herself, looking over Faith's notes, "if you just put yourself out there, you could find someone."

Willow's gaze skittered up to her, and she smiled softly. She pressed into the other girl's touch briefly before shifting away, shaking her head. "Everyone thinks we're together, anyway."

Faith growled, "That's not an excuse!" She was about to go on, but Willow's piercing gaze suddenly bore into her eyes, her green eyes big and hypnotizing. "Faith, don't. It's my decision."

Willow reached out and gently placed a hand onto the brunette's upper arm, her wristwatch glinting in the fluorescent lights of the library. Faith distinctly felt her friend's soft furry skin and three fingers.

She sighed. "I know. I just care."

"Yeah, I know you do."

"Heh." Faith's lips suddenly curled into an overblown leer. "But you gotta admit, it is sorta kinky, ey?"

Staring at her with big eyes, a loud laugh burst out of the redhead's mouth, a blush heightening on her cheeks. "Faith!" she admonished, "It isn't kinky to me!"

Faith smirked. "Five by five, luv. Five by five."

***

When the bell rang and Willow packed up her finished homework, watching as Faith did the same with the homework she had helped her with, she propped herself onto the back of her chair, balancing easily. She brushed hair away from her face, glad that she had cut it shorter at Faith's suggestion. She really did think that it looked better that way. Heck, she grinned, everything Faith did to her made her look better. Even though Willow hadn't fully embraced the skanky wardrobe that her best friend favored, she had to admit that some of the brunette's clothing really did flatter her.

As Faith finished shoveling her stuff into her bookbag, she grinned up at Willow and mouthed, 'Fun time,' looking at Mr. Giles who was walking stiffly toward them. Willow shut her eyes and giggled, reaching out two of her fingers to give her a pinch, mouthing back, 'Be nice.' Faith just looked at her incredulously. She leaned back, stretching her lean frame over the table, straightening and quipping, "Hey, G-man."

Seeing as everyone else had left the room, Giles softened, smiling at the two girls for the first time. "Please, Faith, do not call me that."

Faith rolled her eyes but grinned. "Whatever you say." She paused, winking at the Englishman, "…G-man."

Giles closed his eyes and shook his head, sighing. However, an amused smile flickered on his lips.

Willow, knowing that she had to butt in before Faith and Giles began bickering like little children, sat up straight and propped her chin onto her palm. "Hey, Giles!" she started, "You wanted to talk to us?"

Giles smiled fondly at her, reaching up to take off his glasses to clean them. He looked away and began talking. "Ehrm, yes. You see, a friend of mine is coming from England this afternoon, arriving tomorrow. It's, ah, quite unexpected, but not entirely unwanted."

Faith looked over at Willow with eyebrows raised. "Wow…" she started. "Good going, G-man. Someone's getting lucky! Our little Giles is growing up." She sniffed theatrically.

"Ehrm, no. I'm afraid that it's nothing like that." The librarian glared at her. He returned to his explanation. "However, it has much to do with the two of you."

"Us?" Willow couldn't help the word slipping from her mouth, and she exchanged puzzled glances with Faith.

"Yes." Giles nodded. He slipped on his glasses again, putting his cleaning cloth back into his breast pocket. He leaned in, lowering his voice even though no one else was in the room, "You, and your …extracurricular activities."

Faith and Willow grinned at each other. Hopping off the chair she had been seated on, Willow looked up at Giles with an innocent expression on her face. "You mean this?" she asked, suddenly disappearing in a small cloud of blue smoke and a bamfing noise, reappearing behind the startled Englishman. She grinned widely at him.

Faith nodded, bringing up her hands, curling them into fists. With a schnik noise, three adamantium blades sprouted from behind her knuckles on each hand.

Giles nodded. "Yes, that. Now, would you kindly put those back in," he looked pointedly at Faith, who was admiring her blades, "before someone comes in? I have a meeting scheduled with Ms. Calender this period, and I would rather prefer if she didn't know about you two."

Faith sighed. Sliding her claws back into her hands, she leaned back against the table. "Chill, G. Calender's cool. I really don't think she's a mutant hater."

"How could she be?" Willow asked, walking back and taking a seat next to the brunette again, who immediately slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled her against her side. "We're from a different dimension. They don't even have mutants in this reality."

Giles looked uncomfortable for a second, before nodding. "Quite right," he acceded, "However, it would still be strange for her if she came in and found you hanging from the ceiling or having claws sprout from you hands, wouldn't it?" He looked at the young women in front of him, who were both staring off into space. "Ah, yes," he finally decided, "Tea, anyone?"

Willow brightened, bouncing up. "Yes, please!"

Faith rolled her shoulders, snorting. "Don't you have anything stronger? With more caffeine? Willow pulled me out of bed really early this morning to train."

The redhead stuck her tongue out at her. "Faith, this is a school. They can't supply coffee to the students here."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Oh, like that's really an answer?" Faith removed her arm from around Willow's shoulders and reached out her hand. About an inch from the redhead's ear, she clamped her hand onto thin air and pulled.

"Ouch! Faith!" Willow cried, slapping her hand to the side of her head, trying to wrestle her best friend's hand away, but failing against the much stronger girl. "No fair," she pouted, when Faith finally dropped her hold, laughing, "I don't have your strength…"

"No, duh, Red. I'm the one with the adamantium skeleton, after all."

"Pooh." Nursing her smarting ear, Willow turned back to where the Englishman patiently waited. "No, I don't think she wants tea. I'll have Earl Gray, though, thank you."

Giles nodded. Disappearing into the inner sanctum of his personal office, his voice floated out. "Oh, yes. Willow. I meant to ask, how's your adapter doing? Any chinks?"

Willow frowned, looking down at the watch on her wrist. It flashed up at her, a small red light blinking on and off. "Not really," she supplied. "The only thing I really have to deal with is when I touch someone or my tail slips out."

"Speaking of," Faith teased, yanking on the blue devil tail that danced next to her, having slipped out from the redhead's skirt as it was mentioned.

"Hey!" Willow yelped, spinning around and hitting Faith, who raised her arms to block the offended slap.

"You gotta be better with that, Red," Faith pestered, grinning, watching as her companion tucked her tail safely back in.

"Well, yes, here you are." Giles reappeared, handing Willow a steaming cup of Earl Gray, always keeping hot water in his office. Willow glared over her cup at the still laughing mutant next to her, but the soothing smell and taste calmed her down.

"So, G," Faith volunteered, waiting until the two 'civilized' people next to her had taken a drink, "What's up with the Brit that's comin'? What does it have to do with us?"

"Ah, Faith. I'm glad you asked." Setting his tea cup down with a clink, Giles took his own seat in a chair across from the two women looking at him curiously. "As you know, I am part of The Watchers' Council, and even though I have tried to mention you as little as I can, they have gotten wind of you. I believe it has something to do with you two battling the 'undead and forces of evil', as you call it." The older man looked at the two of them, his eyebrows raised. They both grinned foolishly at him.

Clearing his throat, Giles continued, using a long finger to push the rim of his glasses back onto his nose, "Because they confronted me about the two shadowy figures that have been slaughtering the local vampires and demons, I had to admit that I was training two people to help the Slayer when she arrived. They were, how do they say…?" Giles tilted his head and smiled a half-smile, "A bit perturbed."

Willow looked at Faith for a second, who just folded her arms and shrugged. "So…?" the redhead turned to Giles, her brow furrowing in the process. "So, they sent someone here to test us out."

"Exactly." Giles nodded. "However, they don't know where you came from. I know you two want a bit of privacy, and I decided that you could tell them whatever you wanted."

"Thanks." Faith's eyes had lost all expression. Sighing, Willow gave the man a comforting grin, turning to her companion. Gently reaching out and smoothing the hair away from the scowling girl's face, she leaned over. "Hey, no sad eyes, Faithy. Want to do the usual story?"

Her eyes finally focusing onto the caring face in front of her, Faith nodded. Wiping away any sign that she had been distressed, the girl reached out and playfully tugged on Willow's ear. Her mouth curling into a smile, Willow let her, just pretending to be mad. She snuggled back into her friend's side, knowing that without her, she wouldn't have had anywhere to go. Faith smiled, cradling the smaller girl to her. Yeah, she was protective. So what?

Giles cleared his throat. "Another thing," he added, getting up to write the two hall passes to their next class, "The Council has sent word that the Slayer has arrived in Sunnydale."

"Really? When?" Willow perked up.

Signing his name, the librarian looked over his glasses, smiling secretively. "A week ago."

"What?" Faith protested, "That's impossible! There's been no sign of her whenever we patrol, and no word has been sent of a new vigilante in town."

Willow nodded. "Yeah. I haven't even heard from Willie that she was here."

"Hmm." Giles' forehead crinkled. "Perhaps she's keeping a low profile. Probably settling into the town. She came from L.A., you know. That city's bound to be a lot …different than here.

"Now." He walked back over to the two friends. "Time to get to your next class. I can't have the Principal yell at me for keeping you two too long."

Willow and Faith both accepted the yellow slips of paper. Jumping off of the table they had been seated on, making the legs rattle, Willow smiled up at the man who had accepted her and her best friend into his life with just a little bit of apprehension. Taking one more sip of her rapidly cooling tea, she had just enough time to say a short goodbye before Faith dragged her out of the room.

***

Handing her note to Mrs. Stein, Faith following her example, Willow hurriedly took her seat at the middle of the class. Setting her math book and notebook down, her calculator following, she leaned over to ask the blonde next to her where they were in the book.

Hazel eyes sparkling, Buffy Summers answered.

Smiling at her, Willow flipped to the section, turning around to mouth to Faith the information. However, Faith wasn't looking at her. In the seat behind Buffy, Faith's eyes were glued onto the blonde's ass. Throwing a spare eraser at her, Willow smirked, finally getting across the page number.

Turning back to the front, she started to copy down the information on the board. She blinked when Buffy thrust a note at her. Taking it, she smiled at her, and began to read.

'Hey. You and Faith doing the nasty pretzel with the librarian? That's just eww… *grin*'

Willow's mouth dropped open. Her and Giles? Her, -_Faith-_, and Giles? She hastily scribbled an answer down, passing it when Mrs. Stein wasn't looking.

'Uhm, yuck. No offense, but stuffy Englishmen aren't really my thing. You can have him. *super grin*'

'What?? Oh, that's not right! He's too old!'

She was planning on replying, but Mrs. Stein spoke up. "Alright, class, listen up. We're going to have a partner project coming up soon, for finals." Everyone around the class groaned, but Mrs. Stein ignored them. "Now, we have an odd number of students when everyone is here, but I've come up with a solution. Assigned partners. We're going to get a new student tomorrow, and one of you will be the lucky person who gets to fill them in on what we've done so far this semester."

Willow sighed, knowing already that she and Faith wouldn't be partnered up. They lived together, anyway, but that was too easy. Fate wouldn't be too kind, would it?

"Hey," Buffy leaned in, startling her, just missing hitting the real point of Willow's ear, "Do you think the new student's gonna be a hot guy? I've been here a week, and I've only seen a –_few-_ good looking guys."

The redhead smiled weakly, "Hmm. I know that there were supposed to be a couple of popular guys earlier this year, but they must have all gotten attacked by PCP gang members. Drawn, you know, to their good looks?"

Buffy frowned, something in her eyes clouding, "There's a lot of gang members around here?"

Willow shook her head. "'Fraid so. Why do you think there isn't a big night life other than the Bronze? It isn't safe."

Buffy was about to reply, but Mrs. Stein began to call names out, and the two settled in, not wanting to miss theirs.


	2. Chapter 2

"So you got the new kid, huh?" Faith asked, catching up to where Buffy and Willow were walking to their third classes.

"Ahuh," Willow nodded, accepting the stick of gum Faith offered her.

"You, B?" The brunette offered to Buffy, who declined. Shrugging, Faith snapped one of her own into her mouth, and stuffed the pack back into the pocket of her leather hipsters. "Oh well, your loss. So, know anything about him?"

"Her." Willow smiled, blowing a small bubblegum-flavor bubble. "All I know is that her name's Tara Maclay."

"Mm." Faith nodded her head, pushing in between the two girls, lacing her arms around their shoulders.

Buffy glanced at her, and then craned her head to address Willow, who was walking quietly, "I guess that's kind of cool. Are you afraid that she's gonna be an axe murderer or something?" She grinned, "She IS gonna have to go over to your house, and vice versa, you know."

Willow laughed, exchanging glances with Faith, "Nah. Not too scared. How about you? You're working with Faithy here, and she's someone you really need to be scared of." She poked her friend's ribs, who pinched her back.

Faith looked innocent. "Who, me? I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Buffy and Willow laughed. "Sure."

"Hey," Faith paused, turning to go to her class, which she shared with neither Buffy nor Willow, "You two goin' to the Bronze tonight?"

***

"Faith, I can't do it," Willow insisted, lounging on her bed. She had turned her adapter off in the safety of her own room, and was now fuzzy and blue and natural. Brushing her red hair away from her eyes, she crossed her legs, sitting up, watching as Faith was still throwing clothing across the room.

"Aw, c'mon, Red! It's not like someone will run their hands all over your body! It's just dancin'."

"Just dancing?" Willow snorted, watching the mutant quickly pull on and off different shirts and pants. "Faith, to you, sex is just a form of dance."

"Yeah," the brunette grinned, "Interpretative."

She dodged the pillow thrown at her. Placing her hands onto her hips, she turned around and stalked forward, her compact body exuding power as she let some of her mutant energy swirl around her body. Grabbing Willow's wrist, she pulled her off of the bed. "Red."

"What?" Willow's green eyes stared boldly into hers, used to Faith's unique way of making her point.

Faith's brown eyes narrowed. "I don't even pretend to know how you feel about your body. I don't know what you go through every day, knowing that you can't touch people casually." Her hand traveled down the line of Willow's arm, brushing softly through the refined fur, finally coming to her hand, lacing their fingers together carefully. "But I say, fuck it. This is Sunnydale. The Hellmouth. Don't you think you could find someone who could like you?"

A tear rolled down Willow's cheek, and she turned her head away. "Faith… That's not what I want. I want someone to love me. Someone who isn't a demon, or, or, highly disfigured! I just want someone, you know," Willow turned back, looking up, her expression almost pathetic, "human."

"Hey." Faith smiled supportively, "I love you."

The redhead sniffled, suddenly throwing her arms around her shoulders, hugging her fiercely. "I know, Faithy, I know."

***

The Bronze was unusually packed for a Tuesday night, but that was caused by the sign that read Ladies Night. Faith grinned ferally; hunting time. She nudged her companion in the side. Willow just grimaced at her, self consciously hugging her long-sleeved clad arms around her waist. This was making her extremely paranoid.

Walking into the club, Faith made a straight beeline towards the dance floor while Willow made her way to the refreshment counter. Ordering herself the usual iced mocha, she slipped into the chair at the usual table that she and Faith occupied, leaning her elbows onto the top so she could people watch over her drink. Her lips pursed around the straw.

Faith had made Willow wear a formfitting red shirt that showed just a bit more skin than she was used to. The shirt didn't quite reach her hips, and just below the swell of her hipbone a long black skirt fell to her ankles, a wide split making it easier for her to perch on the high stool. Her tail safely tucked away, Willow was long since used to sitting on the poor abused part of her body.

The music that night wasn't bad, but it could have been better. Watching Faith dance it up with a sorta cute blonde girl, Willow sighed and took a long drink of her mocha, encountering the ice at the bottom. She frowned down at the offending cubes, muttering to herself at how they just didn't make mochas as big as they should when someone suddenly wrapped their arms around her shoulders, pulling her in tight.

Reacting with fear and surprise, Willow jerked her head down, split-second thinking stopping her from automatically transporting herself across the room. Angling her shoulders, she managed to slide down the seat of her chair and out, crouching low on the ground, spinning so she could see who had tried to capture her.

Buffy stared at her with wide hazel eyes, her lipstick red lips parted. "Wills, sorry. I didn't realize that you would react so badly."

Catching her breath, Willow slowly rose, brushing her skirt down. "I'm, um, sorry," she started, trying to gauge if the blonde had felt something she wasn't supposed to. However, the blonde had a heavy leather jacket over her arms and shoulders, so her arms definitely hadn't touched the redhead's skin. It was just her hands that Willow had to worry about. "I'm just jumpy."

"Jumpy." Buffy nodded. She looked like she wasn't going to say anything else.

"So, um," the redhead looked around the club, finally grabbing her drink and offering it to her. "Here? You want a drink or something?"

Buffy finally slipped into one of the other chairs that surrounded the table and smiled. "No, that's okay. I'm not thirsty. But talking about thirst, look at you!" She looked appraisingly up and down Willow's body.

Blushing, Willow joined her, rearranging herself back onto her original seat. She set her drunken mocha down. "Faith made me wear it."

"Well, I think it's good. Makes you look sexy."

"Really?" She looked at the blonde shyly. She wasn't used to having pretty girls other then Faith pay her compliments. Because Faith was her friend, she couldn't fully trust everything the brunette said completely, anyway.

"Mmhm." Buffy nodded purposefully. She looked over at the dance floor where Faith had switched to a shorter black-haired girl. "Wow… Faith has no shame, does she?"

Willow followed her friend's gaze. She blanched. "No, I guess she doesn't," she agreed. Sometimes, she felt embarrassed for the other mutant. Faith obviously felt none.

Noticing that Buffy had some odd dust on the shoulder of her jacket, she automatically reached over to brush it off. When her fingers touched the eyesore, though, Willow frowned. It couldn't be…

"What?" Buffy looked at her curiously.

"Oh, you just had a little lint. You'd be surprised at how clingy leather can get! Although I've never actually worn anything leather, seeing as they kill cows to get their skin. Or are they already dead, then skinned? I'm not too sure. Oh! I'm not saying that you were responsible for the death of an innocent cow! Cuz' I'm sure you weren't. Wait. Do they eat the meat from the cow that they have skinned? Oh eww, that is disgusting to think about and will not be discussed again."

Buffy nodded, speechless. Obviously she wasn't used to the spew of words that escaped Willow's mouth when she was nervous.

The redhead absently rubbed her finger and thumb together, getting the feel of the dust. It was definitely grave dirt. But what would that mean?

Faith ambled back over, her dance done, oozing sexuality. She slid over to take the seat next to Buffy, leaning in to press against the side of her shoulder. She winked over at Willow. "Hey, B. Glad to see that you came. Everything five by five?"

Buffy tried to lean away, smiling almost uncomfortably. "Hey Faith." The blonde reached over and roughly shoved a chair at her, trying to distance herself.

Taking pity on her, Willow reached over and grabbed the brunette's arm, yanking her down onto the chair. "Faithy, cool it. She's not interested."

Faith pouted. Looking over at Buffy, she batted her eyelashes. "What, B? I'm not good enough for you?"

"No, that's not it," Buffy replied, blushing slightly. "There's just someone I'm interested in right now…" She averted her eyes, gazing off into space.

Faith and Willow exchanged a look. Grinning, Faith asked, her eyebrows raised, "Could it be that monkey-boy I always see hanging around you in Math class?"

"Xander?" Shocked hazel eyes flicked up. Buffy laughed, instantly slapping a hand over her mouth. "No offense," she started, "But he's not my type. I'm more into tall dark and myster—" She cut herself off, her features suddenly hardening. Turning her head slightly to encompass both Willow and Faith, the blonde suddenly stood up, her gaze locked onto a man who was leading a girl out of the Bronze. "Uhm, sorry guys, I just remembered something. I'll see you tomorrow, kay?" And she rushed off into the crowd.

Faith frowned. "You think she really doesn't like me?"

"No." Willow shook her head. "Faith, that was a vampire."

Brown eyes flicked to her, surprised. "What was blondie doing? You don't think…"

"No," Willow said with conviction. She had no reason to tell Faith of her suspicions just yet. She rose from her seat, joined by her darker companion. They quickly followed the vampire's trail. Leaving the hot air that filled the Bronze, both she and Faith split off to approach the alley from different directions, the preferred feeding ground for vamps. The redhead looked around, but there was no sign of Buffy anywhere.

Suddenly, her better than normal hearing picked up the sound of a scuffle above her. Looking over to see Faith at the other end, also having noticed the noise, they nodded at each other. With an indrawn breath, Willow teleported herself to the far end of the roof, latching herself into the shadows. Her extra senses, given to her by her mother, alerted her to the fact that Faith was quickly going to join her, scaling the wall. When she knew that her friend was almost there, she turned to see what was happening.

Buffy Summers was fighting the vampire! Gasping in shock, Willow watched as the slight blonde ducked under a clumsy swing of the vampire's fist. Bringing up an underhand punch into the vamp's stomach, which sent him flying back, the affirmed Slayer took a moment to catch her breath. Willow had to scramble out of the way to risk getting seen when Buffy turned to watch the vampire getting up. Snarling, he lunged at her again.

"She's playing with him," Faith said, obvious respect in her voice. Willow tilted her head back to acknowledge the fact that her friend was behind her. "I knew it," she muttered to herself. "You think we should help?"

"Nah." Faith lay her hand onto her friend's shoulder, "Watch. She's about ready to dust him."

"You can tell?" And indeed, Buffy pulled a stake that was previously hidden in her belt loop, shoving it fluidly into the vamp's chest. He exploded satisfactorily into dust.

"Yeah," Faith grinned, her white teeth flashing in the dark, "I've been watching her, remember? When she's about to do something, she does this funny thing with her face. It's hella hot."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Well, okay then. Now I – er, we – know for sure that she's the Slayer. D'you think we should split before she senses us?"

"Oops, too late." Faith hissed, her hand on Willow's shoulder gripping tightly. "I can't run away fast enough. You want to distract her by teleporting?"

Willow grinned. She had known right that Faith wasn't ready yet to confront the blonde. "Sure thing. Be ready." She tightened her muscles, watching as Buffy started to walk near where they were hiding, concentration showing on her face.

"Angel?" Buffy asked, stopping, her hazel eyes looking up at the sky, "Is that you? Dammit, I'm so tired of your just showing up and blah, blah, blah, portent, blah, blah, death, disaster, and more blah! Can't you just show yourself?"

"Who the hell is she talking about?" Faith asked, whispering.

"Mmm. I don't know. Maybe Giles will." Willow swished her tail in anticipation. The brunette's energy was rolling off of her body in waves and the redhead was being influenced by it. "Okay, now!"

She flicked the switch of her adaptor to off, tensed her muscles, and leaped out of the shadows. Knowing that Buffy wouldn't be able to see her clearly, she bounded straight towards her, teleporting right before she actually touched the blonde. The last thing she saw before she was half a block away was Buffy's wide hazel eyes staring straight at her. Her heart pounding, she instantly switched her adaptor back on and fixed her skirt. Leaning against the wall of the Sunnydale Bank, she caught her breath and waited for Faith to catch up to her.

She didn't have long to wait. Melting out of the shadows behind her, the brunette grabbed her into a big hug. "Great, Red!" she said, her smile splitting her face. "You shoulda' seen her! She had the whole 'what the hell was that?' look goin' on!"

As Faith let her down, Willow blushed, rubbing the back of her head. "You sure she didn't recognize me?"

Faith shook her head. "She didn't have a chance. Cool it, Red. Everything's five by five. Now," she slung her arm over the redhead's shoulders, "Want to go find ourselves our own vampire dust before we check in with G-man?" She flexed her other arm to show her muscle.

Willow blinked. Starting to walk, making Faith almost trip to keep up with her, she asked, "Wow… You happily give up Ladies' Night at the Bronze?"

"Don't get used to it!" the other mutant grinned, reaching up to tweak her ear.

Willow squealed, swatting her hand away. "Stop that!"

"Okay…" Faith started, now easily keeping up with her, "Now tell me how you also figured out that Buffy was the Slayer."

"Well," she started, "It really started today. Hey!" She stopped, whirling around to face her friend, "You said 'also'." She poked her finger up near Faith's brown eyes, her tone accusatory, "You had a suspicion?"

"Heh." Faith's expression turned saucy. She rolled her hip into Willow, "I told you, I've been watching her. You think the week ago thing Giles said didn't alert me?"

The redhead pouted. "Suddenly, I don't feel so smart," she muttered, crossing her arms petulantly across her chest.

"Hey," Faith poked her side, "Don't feel down. At least we still have one over her." The brunette re-rolled her arm around her neck and gestured with her right hand out towards the darkness of the Sunnydale streets, "And, man, I'd be glad to be over her any time…"

A laugh burst out of Willow's mouth before she could stop it. "Really?" she chuckled, "You heard her. She's not interested. 'Tall, dark, and mysterious', remember? You'll probably have more luck with the new transfer student."

"Grr…" Faith gave her a noogie.

Willow could tell that the other mutant wasn't really angry. Deep down, though, Willow was worried that her close friend had developed a too strong attachment to the small blonde. Certainly now, too, that they had discovered that Buffy had the ability to match Faith in some degree of strength, although that degree had yet to be fully determined.

Willow decided not to think about that too closely for the time being. Slinging her arm through Faith's, they continued happily along to the first of Sunnydale's many graveyards.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, it was hard to act normal around the blonde. Almost paranoid now that she knew Buffy was the Slayer, and because there was the slight chance that she had gotten an actual glimpse of her, Willow had started to walk on eggshells around her. Faith, completely oblivious to the redhead's stress, just kept on being herself. Neither of them had told Giles yet about what they had found out.

Stopping Faith outside of the Study Hall after she made sure that Giles was completely out of sight, she voiced some of the concerns she had been thinking about. "Hey. You're going to invite Buffy over to our house tonight, in class, right?"

"Yeah?"

"…That might be a problem."

"What? Why?" Faith furrowed her brow, "Your adaptor bugging out? Leave any blue fuzz in the shower?"

Willow blushed, quickly shaking her head, "No, everything's fine on that front. What I'm talking about it is that nobody knows that we live with Mr. Giles. And, didn't he say someone was coming from England today?"

"Oh." Faith shrugged, "What's she gonna do? Call the school? I don't think Buffy's like that."

"No, that's not what I meant. Giles' _friend_." She stressed the word. Tapping her fingers on her arm, she wondered how Faith could be so blasé. Her best friend had always been so, but only now it was really starting to bug the redhead. She figured that it was because she was so jealous of her ability to be normal. Whatever that meant. "They're the one I'm concerned about."

Faith frowned at her. "Chill out, Red." She lay her hand onto Willow's shoulder, already turning away, "I thought about that already. Got it all covered. Five by five." The brunette flashed her one more smile before continuing to Math class.

Watching her with concerned eyes, Willow bit her lip. Looking down at her shoes, she shook her head, allowing her red bangs to flop over her forehead. Faith was too preoccupied. She knew something bad was going to happen. She barely had any energy to wonder what the new student would be like!

Mentally shaking herself, Willow pasted an easygoing expression on her face, wanting her new partner to be put at ease. First days at school were hard, the mutant knew. Tightening her grip on her books, she made sure that her tail was successfully stowed away between her legs. It always felt awkward, and kind of perverted, but that was the price to pay. Even after 16 years of life, the act of hiding her tail was a horrible feeling in her stomach. It was natural for her to have one. Humans still had tail bones, so why should they get scared of her? Just because she was bit more evolved?

She sighed. What good would her inner soapbox ever do her? Opening the door to Mrs. Stein's room, she was glad to see that she wasn't late. Students milled around the desks, and Willow was a little disgruntled to see that Faith was perched on Buffy's, joking with her. Deciding that she would take a back desk until class started to afford herself some time to think, she slid her books onto the one right in the corner. She knew that no one sat there.

Opening her notebook, she started to tap her pencil against the desk. Using one hand to hold her head up, she absently played with her hair. Why was it bothering her so much, Faith's preoccupation with Buffy?

She looked up when somebody took a seat next to her, their books making a small crashing noise. Looking into startled blue eyes, Willow watched a pretty blonde girl duck her head and blush, stuttering out a, "S-sorry…"

"Hey, no problem." Willow smiled, recognizing the embarrassment for what it was. "Are you Tara Maclay?"

"W-what?"

Willow tucked a bang behind her ear, hoping to put the girl at ease. She knew better than offering her hand. "I'm your partner. Well, for this class, I mean. Mrs. Stein just assigned us this big project, and because there were an odd number of people in the class, I was assigned to you. To catch you up, I mean. Not _assigned_, assigned. Not like I'm going to follow you home and stuff. Like a bodyguard. Uhm… You are Tara Maclay?"

The blonde nodded, and Willow's gaze followed the line of her hair down to just below her collarbone. Wow, she thought, she's so pretty…

Tara Maclay had the most beautiful blue eyes Willow had ever seen, mentally comparing them to her own blue skin. Her dark blonde hair was clipped away from her face in an uneven line, and hung, framing her cheeks on both sides. Her lips were plump and –kissable, Willow thought- an alluring color red, a light sheen of pink gloss making them shine. She didn't have much makeup other than the lip gloss, but she didn't need it.

Tara was wearing a silk-screened blue tee, the sleeves ending just shy of her wrists, a black digital watch secured around her left. In the middle of her shirt, right above the (pleasing!) swell of her breasts, a Japanese print of two birds wrapping a ribbon around a large tree with Kanji written down on both sides was printed. The collar of the shirt was just above the bumps of her collarbone, and a rose quartz necklace on a gold chain lay around her neck.

Underneath the desk, Tara's legs were covered by a long red and brown skirt, small gold and white sequins sewn into the fabric. Where the hem ended, Willow could see black combat boots poking out, the laces tightly tied and long.

Willow felt her heart quicken. This girl was definitely her type.

Tara smiled at her shyly. "So y-you're W-Willow?" She nervously fiddled with the black notebook she had set down in front of her. Willow watched her hands. They were so elegant. Her nails were short and a little ragged, as if she bit them, but they were paint free. Her fingers were long and thin, and Willow swallowed when she had a flash of one of her favorite daydreams, substituting Tara's fingers for her shadow lover's.

After a second, the redhead realized that she had been staring at the other girl's hands, and she blushed. "Uh, what? Oh! Oh yeah, I'm Willow. Nice to meet you." She hoped that she wasn't acting too obviously attracted to Tara. The instant crush had never happened to the mutant before, and she was glad. It was too uncomfortable! Her stomach was already tightening into a ball half its normal size.

"Y-you too."

They smiled at each other.

A paper ball suddenly smacked into Willow's head, and she automatically turned to see Faith smirking at her. Waggling her eyebrows, the brunette mouthed 'Read it', and pointed to the ball that had bounced into Tara's lap after hitting her. Willow frowned at her, but Faith disregarded it, skirting back to her desk when Mrs. Stein came in.

Grumbling to herself, Willow absently rubbed her head but swiveled in her chair, turning to look apologetically at Tara. "I'm sorry about that. Faith's just a meanie."

"That-that's okay," Tara said softly, the corner of her lips tugging up in an endearing smile. "H-here." And the blonde handed her the crumpled paper.

Ohmigod, she's soo cute! Nice AND cute! Willow thrilled to herself, nodding her thanks. She could feel her tail start to twitch, so she had to shift to stop it. Using her palm to smooth out the wrinkled paper on the desktop, a huge blush engulfed her face. In Faith's easy script, she had scrawled,

Droolin' at the hottie…

"Faith!" she exclaimed under her breath, hastily shoving the note deep into her backpack. She glared at her friend's back, but the other mutant, fully capable of feeling her gaze, ignored her.

Mrs. Stein collected everyone's attention. "Good morning, class. Why don't you just get into your groups and get to work? There are five free computers, so grab one quick if you want to use it! I'll be over at my desk if you need me." Stopping for a second, the gray-haired teacher then looked over at Willow's usual desk, and then frowned when she saw that the redhead wasn't there. "Willow? Willow Rosenberg? Is she not here today?"

"Uh," Willow cleared her throat, raising her hand.

"She's in the back," someone said.

"Oh." Mrs. Stein said, finally seeing her. "Oh, good. You've already met Tara. You can come talk to me when you get situated, alright? We can go over this project, and you can make up some work."

Tara nodded, a nervous smile skittering on her face under all of the curious gazes suddenly directed at her. "S-sure."

"Great." Mrs. Stein smiled. "Okay, everyone. Get to work! You know what to do! I'll give you this whole period."

"The whole period, wow…" Willow said, turning back to the blonde. "This doesn't happen all that often. Usually it's all, 'take out your books and start cramming numbers into your head!'"

"R-really?"

"Yeah," Willow nodded her head exuberantly, "Well, not in those exact words, but you get what I mean."

Tara chuckled, moving her shoulders around. Placing her left elbow onto her desk, she lay her head onto her palm and asked, an innocent expression on her face, "Y-you mean, she a-actually opens the top of your h-head and sticks large woo-wooden numbers into your br-brain? W-wouldn't that hur-hurt?"

Willow laughed. Tara grinned, her features becoming almost elfin for a second. Seeing her smile, Willow's heart started to speed up. She blushed and looked away. Stupid adaptor! It did nothing but give her fair skin that reddened easily.

"Okay, so," she started again, "We don't have to do math right away. Where'd you move from?"

***

At lunch time, Willow sat at her and Faith's usual table, waiting for the brunette to show up. She and Tara had talked all math period long, finally making plans to meet up that weekend to actually get some math homework done. It had turned out that the blonde had two other classes that she shared with Willow, but they were after lunch. Willow couldn't wait. She and Tara had gotten along so well, and Willow knew that it was just a matter of time before she fell head over heels for the other girl.

Twirling her fork around in her pasta, the mutant blushed as she remembered the way Tara had reached out to touch her arm when they were laughing over their mutual exasperation at moving vehicle attendants.

"They just don't understand that when something looks heavy, it is heavy!" Willow had exclaimed.

"Y-yeah," Tara agreed, "You'd think they'd h-have l-learned."

The bell had rung, signaling the end of the class, and the two girls looked at each other. "Wow, we didn't get any work done," Willow said, looking down at her notebook.

"N-nope."

"Cool!"

"Wh-what?" Tara asked, obviously surprised. Her blue eyes looked curiously over at the redhead.

"Eh…" Willow shrugged, grinning shamelessly, "I'm supposed to be this whole reliable person, you see. It just feels good to be a rebel, sometimes." She gathered up her books. "Well, I'll see you in P.E. and Art class, kay?"

Tara nodded, smiling at her. She gathered up her own stuff. "Uh, I ha-have to go t-talk to the t-teacher, so…"

"Oh! Of course! I'd offer to show you your next class, but I guess I'll have to do with showing you it on the map," Willow offered eagerly, accepting the paper that Tara handed her. "See, you go up the hall and turn here. It's just across from the auditorium…"

Willow smiled goofily, remembering just how cute Tara was. It was almost weird how instantly in tune with her she felt. It almost made her forget that she had to be careful with her…

"Yo, Red! I saw you gettin' pretty close to the new gal! Makin' your move?" Faith suddenly appeared, rapping her on the head.

Startled, Willow snapped her head up and frowned at the laughing girl. "Hey! Faith! I wasn't paying attention! You can't just sneak up on me!"

"Oh, I can. I don't know what you're talking about." The brunette took the seat next to her, flipping it around so she straddled the back. Moving her hair behind her ear, she leaned in, smirking. "So, tell me. You've got the hots for Blondie, dontcha?"

Willow blushed. Looking down at her food, she mumbled, the tips of her ears red, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Faith snorted. "Oh c'mon! It was so obvious!"

Wide eyed, Willow asked, "R-really?" She bit her lip. "Do you think she noticed?"

"Ahah!" A huge grin split Faith's face, and Willow had a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Yo, B! Willow here just admitted she has the hots for the new girl!"

"Really?" Buffy sat down across from them, placing her plate of cafeteria slop in front of her. She slid her backpack from her shoulders, pushing it under the table. Grinning, the blonde raised one eyebrow at the redhead. "Wow. And I thought Faith was the fast one."

"It's not like that!" Willow protested, hiding her face in her hands, shaking her head. She knew her cheeks were bright red. "We just talked the whole period, and, and got to know each other! That's all."

"Ahuh, sure." Faith and Buffy exchanged glances. "Oh, look who's just entering the cafeteria. Why don't you go over and invite her?" Faith looked at the redhead slyly.

"Guys!" the redhead strangled out, "Stop it!" She couldn't help but look to where both Buffy and Faith were looking. There was Tara, looking small and unsure at the sea of people. Her heart going out to her new friend, Willow sighed and got up from her seat. She avoided the slap Faith tried to hit her with, and ignored the accompanying wink and, "Go get 'er, Red!"

Steeling herself, Willow approached where Tara was entering the line and stopped five feet from her. Moving from foot to foot nervously, she waited until the blonde had moved from the line with her food before making her way to her. She shrugged, smiling lopsidedly when Tara looked up at her, "Hey."

Tara blinked, a huge smile blossoming on her face before she toned it down, looking away and back again, "W-willow!"

Willow's heart thrilled at the sound of the other girl saying her name. She looked earnestly into her blue eyes. "Hey, Faith and Buffy and I," Willow stressed the I, wanting the blonde to know that it was her idea also, "wanted to know if you would like to sit with us? For lunch?"

"R-really?" Tara looked so surprised that Willow had to reach out and touch her arm.

"Of course!" she beamed, already pulling her over, "C'mon!" She wouldn't take no for an answer. She really wanted Buffy and Faith to meet her new friend and potential crush. The redhead blushed, fully aware of Tara's slim arm in her hand.

Stopping short at the edge of the table, she noticed that the boy from Math class, Xander Harris, had joined Buffy and Faith, absconding himself next to the blonde. Already wearing half of his spaghetti on his shirt, he grinned goofily up at the two, immediately jumping up. Grabbing Tara's hand, he eagerly pumped it up and down, offering her his seat. "Hey! I'm Xander."

Willow dropped Tara's arm, reaching over to take her lunch so it wouldn't spill. "Cool it, man!" Faith snapped, flicking the boy's head. Smiling sheepishly, Xander let go, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry."

"I-it's alright." Tara said quickly, sitting down in the proffered seat, "I'm T-tara." She smiled up at Willow as she handed her back her lunch. "T-thanks."

Willow blushed, "No problem." She took the seat on the other side of Buffy, Xander skipping to take the one next to Faith. Under the table, the brunette reached over to pinch her thigh, and Willow slapped her.

"You are soo into her," Faith mumbled under her breath, knowing full well that Willow could hear her. She leered over at her.

"Shut up!" Red crawled up the elf's face. Though her words were directed at her best friend, her eyes were watching Tara. She couldn't help it! Everything the blonde did was mesmerizing. Willow curled her hands into fists, knowing that if she didn't, she wouldn't have the willpower not to reach out and touch her.

Argh! Having a crush on someone was aggravating!

The simple way she held herself. The way the corners of her lips turned up unknowingly whenever she listened to someone. The embarrassed blush that covered her cheeks whenever she said something she obviously thought was stupid. I could watch her for hours, Willow thought, laying her head on her hand.

As if hearing her thought, Tara looked up and smiled shyly at her. Willow's eyes widened, and she sat up, clearing her throat. Quickly looking at her adaptor that mirrored as a watch, she stood up and swept her backpack and lunch tray with her. "Sorry guys," she said, once the conversation lulled and everyone looked up at her, "I need to go get ready for P.E. class."

Physical Education was a sore point for Willow. She excelled at it because of her natural muscles and flexibility, but it caused a lot of problems. The changing room was nearly impossible to change covertly in. To bypass the risk of discovery, the redhead had taken to getting dressed in the Girl's Bathroom before lunch had even ended. She hated her tail sometimes, no matter how happy she was to have it, too.

Nodding, Faith patted her on the back. "Have fun getting sweaty!"

Willow mock glared at her, baring her teeth. Just because Faith had somehow managed to finagle her way out of P.E. class, she liked to tease the other mutant at every chance she got. Even though Willow knew that it was actually a good thing that Faith didn't join them because of her superior strength, she was still jealous.

Taking a deep breath, Willow surprised herself when she turned to Tara and asked, "You wanna join me? I can show you where the girl's locker room is."

"O-okay. That w-would be n-nice."

And, suddenly, Tara and Willow were walking down the hall with Willow not knowing how they had gotten there. Wow, she blinked, I probably blocked out whatever it was that Faith said to me.

She turned to see Tara looking up at her shyly through a soft fringe of blonde hair. "H-hey," the blonde said quietly, "You o-okay? You've been a-awfully quiet."

"Hmm? Yeah. Yeah! Everything A-ok here! Five by five, as Faithy would say." Willow raced to relieve her concern.

"Okay."

A companionable silence (as much as any given hall of a high school on top of a Hellmouth would be) surrounded the two. Looking at Tara, an internal thrill ran through Willow when the taller girl's eyes met hers, and they both looked away. The redhead's heart started to pound. Could Tara possibly be looking at her too?

She frowned and bit her lip. Well, she could always be looking at her, but was she _looking_ looking at her? It was too much to hope…wasn't it?


	4. Chapter 4

Looking both ways before she exited the bathroom stall, Willow adjusted the seat of her shorts, making sure that the extra bagginess of the material kept everything well hidden. Snarling, she punched the side of the wall with the bottom of her fist. One day she would convince the school that she didn't need to wear the P.E. uniform. As much as she thought that the shorts were, on other girls, very nice and pleasing, on herself there was just too much danger to show her body off. Why did she have to hide? Why why why?

She definitely spent too much time dwelling on her misfortunes, she thought, rubbing her hand, finally carrying her bag that held her civvies to the locker she had been assigned at the beginning of school. Opening the lock, she stuffed her clothing in and shut it with a bang. Yay, time to hide her athleticism.

As she passed by the other girls, most of which she only knew by name, she tried to see if she could find Tara without it looking too obvious that she was doing so. Failing, she felt a momentary flash of sadness, but tried to get rid of it before she entered into the gymnasium.

She loved Sunnydale High's P.E. gym. The high school actually had two: one used for basketball and prom and everything like that, while the one Willow was in was smaller, only used for P.E., dance class, and everything of lesser importance to the principal and faculty. It was small enough that it reminded Willow of her and Faith's own training room Giles had set up back at his house, but big enough that the forty girls that made up her class could fit comfortably inside. Taking a seat in one of the plastic chairs that rimmed the space, the redhead waited for the whistle of Miss Pemberly to blow.

Her internal thoughts broken when Tara sat down next to her, Willow immediately shifted away so the blonde's bare leg wouldn't touch her own. She looked up and smiled through her bangs so the blonde wouldn't think it was anything against her.

Tara smiled back at her, apparently not even noticing anything wrong. "W-ow," she stuttered out, picking at the bottom of her green gym shorts, "These are re-really short…"

Willow looked down to where the blonde's hand was, swallowing as she realized just how much of Tara's legs she had the privilege to see. "Yeah," she joked, "There's a reason they're called shorts, ya know."

Tara stuck out her tongue. "Low. H-How come y-you get to ha-have long ones?"

For some reason, Willow didn't want to use her usual excuse of Eczema or scarring. She didn't want her new friend to think she wasn't perfect. Instead, the redhead thought quickly. "Uh… We didn't have enough money to buy new ones, so I had to make do with the ones that they had lying around – and they were Triple X. Belonged to some huge wrestler guy, I believe. Yech! I don't want to think about that. Eww. I even have to use a belt, see?" And she lifted up her shirt to show Tara her rainbow wraparound belt with buckle.

"It's p-pretty…" the other girl said, reaching out to finger the fringed ends. "I like rainbows t-too."

Willow noticed that Tara had stopped stuttering as much as she used to. Rainbows, huh, she thought, Faith would have a field day with that knowledge! She thrilled for a second, doing mental somersaults until she realized that even if that did mean anything, Tara couldn't possibly like her if she knew what she really looked like.

Before she could depress herself any more, Miss Pemberly blew the whistle to start the period. Dropping her shirt, Willow smiled at Tara. "Ready for the annual 'glow' session?"

***

"I seem to do this a lot," Willow grumbled to herself, standing at the front of Sunnydale High. She was waiting for Faith and Buffy to arrive so they could all walk back to her and Faith's house. "Why can't they ever wait for _me_?"

A gust of wind blew through her, and she shivered, crossing her arms tightly against her chest. Looking up at the gathering clouds, a feeling of apprehension started to build in the mutant's body. Tonight will be a good night for vampire hunting, she thought, piquing all of her senses up in preparation. It had that feeling to it.

Waving goodbye to a couple of people she knew from her English class, she looked back into the doorway and decided that she was going to walk back home by herself. Faith and Buffy be damned. She was tired of being reliable.

Taking her jacket out of her backpack, she put it on, wanting to be sure that she wouldn't be cold. Stuffing her hands into her pockets, she walked past groups of talking and animated students, all laughing and having a good time. Many were hanging off of each other, whispering secrets into each other's ears. Willow's heart ached to be able to do the same thing. Biting her lip, she stomped down the street.

Not for the first time, she felt like crying. As tears pricked behind her eyes, her mother's words came back to her: "Willow, don't be afraid to let yourself love. You will find someone for you, who will love you completely." Her mother's soft red hair and gentle green eyes floated in front of her gaze. Willow felt her arms settle around her shoulders, hugging her, and love and warmth flowed throughout her body.

She smiled, basking in the love her mother sent her from the other side. Even in this dimension, she was watching over her. A moment after the presence lifted from her body, an internal glow remained. Standing in the middle of the sidewalk, Willow smiled up at the sky, no longer cold.

She opened her eyes, dropping her shoulders, relaxing her muscles. Jean Gray had always been her staple of support, taking her daughter's insecurities as stepping stones to what Willow could really be. Her father, in retrospect, had always sympathized too closely to her feelings, loving her but keeping her back even though he didn't mean to. It wasn't until Willow had become a teenager when she and Faith managed to show Nightcrawler that he didn't need to hold her back anymore.

Willow smiled to herself. All in all, she had been blessed with wonderful parents. She knew that not many mutants had mutant parents, and the ones who did, didn't get to see them that often. She and Faith had been lucky. They had grown up in Professor Xavier's mansion with the X-men.

Unbidden, her mind drifted to Tara. It was uncanny, how instantly attracted she was to the blonde. Something inside of her clicked with the other girl. Yet, Willow was scared. This was new territory for her. She was in her sophomore year of high school in a non-mutant world. She was almost to the point of nervous breakdown because she was continually hiding. At home, she didn't have to all that often.

Her mind was heavy with these thoughts when she pushed open the door of her house. Turning and making her way to the bottom of the stairs that led up to her room, she stopped when someone cleared their throat behind her. Surprised, she turned around; usually, Giles wasn't home yet.

A young man, undoubtedly British, stood there, looking at her disdainfully. He had smartly parted black hair and small gold-rimmed glasses, and was wearing a pressed black double-breasted coat, black slacks rounding out his image of tightness. Willow's heart sank. She had completely forgotten about the Council sending someone.

"And who," the man spoke, studying her over the rims of his glasses, his voice clipped and stiff, "might you be?"

"Uh…" Willow had no idea what to say. She felt like he was judging her already. To stall, she asked, "Who are you?"

He ignored her. "What, pray tell, are you doing in Mr. Giles' house?"

The redhead could feel his disapproval as if he was carving it into her spine. "Uhm… I live here?"

"What? I wasn't informed of this!"

"Obviously," she whispered under her breath, but the man had moved on. Walking over to her, he looked down his nose, moving in close. He studied her, his eyebrows almost crowding together. Willow wanted to move away, uncomfortable. Finally, the man grabbed her arm.

"Are you the Slayer?" he asked excitedly.

"What's a Slayer?" she answered immediately.

"Oh." The man released her arm, looking tightly at her a second before taking a step back. He picked nervously at his coat. "Allow me to apologize for my lack of manners. I am Wesley –"

The door slamming open stopped him. Striding in energetically, Faith was laughing so hard that her shoulders were shaking. Behind her, Buffy was looking amused as well, though not laughing as hard as the other girl was. They both stopped short when they saw the impasse Willow was stuck in.

Sitting on the edge of the dining table, Faith looked Wesley up and down, one eyebrow arched. "Who's the bloke?"

Willow shrugged at her, finally mouthing 'Council.'

"Ah." The brunette then turned to Buffy, reaching out a hand to lay it onto the blonde's arm, "C'mon, my room's up here. Let's blow this joint."

Smiling at Willow and Wesley curiously as she passed them, Buffy followed Faith upstairs, the two finally disappearing out of view. The sound of their voices echoed past them.

Willow turned back to the Englishman and smiled sympathetically at him. "Bet you didn't know she lived here either? Here, do you want a drink? Giles should be home soon. You can talk to him then." Without waiting for his answer, she hurried into the kitchen. This was too much for the redhead to handle right now.

She deposited her backpack next to the kitchen counter and got herself a glass out of the cabinet. Filling it with water from the tap, she took a long, cool sip, and sighed. She just knew the day was going to get much more difficult before it was over…

***

She and Faith finally escaped around 11 that night. "God!" Faith exclaimed, stretching her arms over her head, "More than one Brit, I don't think I can handle!"

"Hmm."

The brunette swung around so she was walking backwards, facing Willow, "Did you see the way they were competing for complete stuffiness? Giles even started acting more high strung than he usually does!" Faith adopted a badly faked English accent, "Brolly, good Lord, crumpets, tea. Well, I say, damn the crumpets!"

Willow cracked a smile. More than once, she had wished that she could have transported out of the room. But right now, she had a killer headache, and the only reason she had left the house was for some fresh air. Everything was just stressing her out.

Faith turned around again, sweeping her arms out, complaining about their new house guest. Willow watched her. It really irritated her that Faith didn't seem to care about what they were going to do with their knowledge of the Slayer's identity.

Willow was secure enough to know that she was jealous of her friend's attachment to the blonde. Although, she thought ruefully, deciding that she couldn't really blame her friend now that she knew what a crush was like, at least she's not jumping her bones and sparring with her. I still have my Faithy for that. Just… I know she's going to get hurt…

She looked down at her feet, and then shoved off her shoes. Feeling the cold concrete against her skin, she sighed in bliss. Shutting off her adaptor, she then proceeded to strip, leaving her training shorts and tank on. Giggling madly, she took off loping down the street, tail happily trailing after her, the muscles a little pinched. She quickly passed Faith, who tried to reach out and catch her.

"What am I gonna' do with your clothes, Red?" Faith cursed after her, but Willow was already gone.

She loved the feeling of the wind ruffling her short fur, red hair streaking past her face, her ears pointing up to the stars above. Blue was her color, and the dark blue of the night was the only time she felt like she could blend in. And tonight, she would release some stress and her anxiety over Tara. Her headache was already fading.

She bamfed in and out, leaping up the sides of walls by scaling their corners, monkey barring old antennas, and tiptoeing across telephone wires, practicing her balance. It was wonderful being free to be who she really was.

She made sure to steer clear of Buffy, who she knew was patrolling the south graveyard. Instead, she swung by the high school, making sure that all of the teachers had gotten home safely, then balanced over the top of the Bronze, scanning the crowd for any signs of living dead. Her ears pricked at all times for the sound of screaming, Willow was puzzled by the lack of vampiric activity. Her earlier prediction of action was proving wrong – something that happened rarely. It unsettled her.

Finally, after stumbling upon a small Taliac demon, Willow decided that it was time to go home. Wiping her hands off on the grass, she looked at her watch and grimaced. "Great," she muttered, "1:30. So much for getting up early to train… Faith's going to be so mad at me." Fading back into the shadows, she headed home.

***

Faith woke her up by tossing a pillow onto her face. "Wake up, Sleepin' Beauty! Wesley's havin' a coronary downstairs. I need you to mediate."

"What'ja do now?" Willow mumbled sleepily, removing the pillow only to see Faith leaning over her awfully close. She sat up and pushed sleep-mussed bangs to the side of her face.

The other mutant managed to look sheepish. She averted her brown eyes. "Uhm… I forgot that he was here, ya know? I'm not expected to be the brightest in the morning, yeah, and I did my usual thing and used my claws to cut an apple…"

"Oh, Faith!" Willow shook her head and flopped back, replacing the pillow.

"Well!" Faith protested; Willow could just imagine her perturbed expression, "Who needs knives anyway when you have your own blades?"

"Did you do the whole sushi chef routine?"

"Yep."

The redhead laughed and pushed the pillow off of her face, rubbing her eyes. "So much for our 'orphan schtick', huh?"

Faith thought deeply for a second, sitting down on the side of her bed. "Maybe we could just say circus folk?"

Willow reached out and placed her hand on her best friend's knee, absently marveling at how her blue skin looked against the leather pants Faith had already donned. Maybe she'd borrow them later for her own private fashion show. However, she couldn't think of that now. "Hey, Faithy? What's wrong?"

The brunette turned up her face to reveal a troubled expression. "Red? Why do I always fuck everything up for us?"

Willow sighed and shifted so she could slide her arms around the stronger girl's waist, gently resting her head onto her warm shoulder. The redhead was the only one Faith ever showed her sensitive, insecure side to, Willow knowing that it was hard for her to do so. "Hey," she offered, "Think about it this way. He would have found out eventually, right? Good thing he didn't get hit with the blue imp."

Faith leaned her head back so she could rest her cheek against Willow's. "Heh. That _would_ be freaky for any normal person, wouldn't it?"

"Mmm. I guess so." Willow tightened her arms around Faith's waist. "D'ya think he would have thrown holy water on me like Giles did?"

"Probably." Willow could feel Faith's lips quirk up, "Wesley's long for wuss."

"Faith!"

"What? I'm jus' speakin' the truth, ain't I?"

Willow smiled and snuggled back into her friend. "You're beginning to speak like your dad, again, Faithy."

"Ol' Wolvie?" The brunette paused, bringing up her fists and bringing out her blades, catching them in the light that streamed in through the window. "Heh. I wonder how he's doing?

"Oy!" Faith suddenly switched topics, twisting to face Willow, the redhead having to break her hug. She had a huge grin on her face, and she reached up to tug one of Willow's ears, her blades snapping back into her skin with a quiet schnik. "You wanna get out the old uniforms and patrol tonight?"

Willow's eyes grew big. "The old ones?" she squeaked.

"Yeah." Faith nodded eagerly.

"No. No no no!"

Faith smiled slyly. "What, you afraid that Buffy'll see you? That _Tara'll_ see you?" She looked at the redhead knowingly.

A blush heated her face, but Willow shook her head. "As if," she muttered, her tail lashing next to her thigh. Drawing her knees into a cross-legged position, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Faithy…" she pouted, looking up at her friend through her bangs imploringly, "You know how I feel about my old uniform."

Faith just grinned evilly and tackled her, tickling madly. Laughing so hard that she couldn't escape by transporting, Willow had to put up with the attack.

***

Twenty minutes later, dressed and showered, Willow walked down the stairs, peering around the corner. Making sure that Wesley wasn't in the kitchen before she entered, she sighed in relief when she realized that she had enough time to make herself some breakfast. Seeing the apple slices Faith had left her, she smiled softly to herself. It was just like Faith to do something for her and get in trouble doing it.

She could remember the time when they were younger, when Faith had 'borrowed' Professor Xavier's wheelchair just so Willow could satisfy her curiosity of how it worked. Lying in bed, the Professor had heard the younger girl's thoughts, but had allowed her the fun. Of course, when they found out, Ororo and Scott had grounded the girls for months, making them clean out the danger room along with their usual chores.

Chuckling and finishing off the apple slices, Willow got herself a bowl and poured some Corn Flakes into it. Hearing Giles enter the kitchen behind her, she greeted him.

"Good morning, Willow. I trust you and Faith are ready for school?"

"Yep!" Willow smiled up at him, pouring milk into her cereal, always warmed when the older man took on the filial role. "Faith actually woke me up this morning."

"Really?" Giles looked at her, surprised. Sipping his cup of morning tea, the Englishman walked over to the living room couch; the redhead followed him, perching on the opposite counter.

"Yeah," she slurped, "Apparently she had a run in with Wesley."

"They fought?" Giles asked in alarm, sitting forward.

"What? Oh, no! Nothing like that." Willow shuffled her shoulders, humming in exasperation. "She just forgot he was in the house, so," she shoveled some cereal in her mouth, her tail waving around behind her, "she did her whole Iron Chef routine in front of him."

"Oh." The corner of Giles' mouth quirked up, and he took off his glasses to clean them. He tried to hide his laughter behind his handkerchief. He too, knew well the spectacle that was Faith's slicing skills.

"Good Lord! What _is_ that??" burst out behind them.

Willow and Giles turned their heads to see Wesley standing at the bathroom door, staring at them. Then, immediately, they scanned the area past them, ready for a demon. Seeing nothing, however, they both turned back.

Willow was almost afraid to ask, but Giles beat her to it. Setting his cup down onto the coffee table, he stood up, "What?"

"Y-you!" The young man gesticulated wildly at the redhead. His eyes were so wide that she could see white all around his pupils.

"What?"

Wesley walked closer. His mouth dropped open. "Good Lord, do you have a _tail_??"

Oh. Willow dropped her head, sighing, hiding her face under her bangs. A mischievous voice in her head whispered, why not do the whole shebang? Succumbing to the temptation, she set down her empty cereal bowl and reached out to her wrist.

Giles caught what she was about to do, and he walked over quickly to the other man. "Sir, I believe you should sit down for this."

"Why?" Not taking his eyes off of her, Wesley sat nonetheless.

With a small cynical smile, Willow pushed the button, her eyes closed. Feeling nothing, she only knew that it had turned off when she heard the man's strangled noise. Raising a three-fingered hand, she waved cheerfully, pinning Wesley with her gaze, "Hi!"


	5. Chapter 5

"I can't believe you did that, Red! Man, you've got some guts!"

Shaking her head, Willow didn't look at her friend. "Faith, please drop it," she said quietly. Giles' eyes from the rearview mirror were gentle as they met hers. He offered a smile which she didn't answer. Ignoring Faith's continuing speech, she stared out of the side of Giles' old car. A flash of gold hit her eyes, and she immediately sat up, craning her head to look back.

She was correct. Her hungry eyes took in the sight of Tara, about two blocks away from the school, walking alone on the sidewalk. Without any thought, in a split second she had teleported herself out of the car, behind the blonde. Cringing as she realized what she had done, she watched sheepishly as Giles swerved, almost skidding on the road. Seeing Faith give her a cheeky grin and thumbs up a second later, she waved goodbye and hurriedly ran up to catch Tara, who had stopped to watch the Englishman's driving.

"Tara! Hey! Did'ja see that weird driving?"

The other girl turned, a surprised expression on her face. When she saw who it was, she smiled, bringing up one hand to immediately brush hair behind her ear. "W-Willow. Hey." Her lips quirked up; she had the most adorable wrinkle of her nose!

Willow hummed at the sound of her name. Taking the place next to the taller girl, they continued on their walk to school, Willow almost skipping in happiness, "Do you live anywhere near here?" Off the blonde's look, she quickly added, "I mean, for you to be walking! Not like I'm going to stalk you or anything – and hey, didn't we go over this already when we first met?"

"I-I think so." Looking up in thought, Tara finally smiled, nodding, "Yes. Y-you did. You said you w-were assigned to m-me. Like a b-bodyguard." She quoted her directly.

Willow blushed, looking away. Her hands tightening around her backpack straps, she looked shyly at her, "Aheh. Yeah. I did say that."

Tara's eyebrows rose. "G-good to know. I li-live a couple o-of blocks from h-here. My Fa-father has work, so he c-can't drive me, and D-Donny got his license t-taken away." She looked away, her eyes darkening. Her voice had softened, and Willow knew that something was bothering her.

"And you?" she asked curiously, "You can't drive?"

"W-what? Me?" Tara laughed softly, shaking her head, her blonde hair falling gracefully over her shoulder, "N-no. I can't. You?"

The redhead also shook her head. "I don't really need to," she tried to explain, "Walking's just fine for me." Transporting's good, too, she added mentally, grinning rakishly. She did a little hop skip and a jump, laughing to herself. What was it about Tara that made her so happy?

"Tha-that's great. I to-totally understand." Tara smiled at her shyly, and Willow smiled back.

Unbidden, the fingers of her left hand itched to reach over and hold hands with the other girl. Sighing, she allowed herself a long moment of dreaming before she realized that Tara was actually talking to her. Blushing, she refocused her gaze, snapped her mouth shut, and turned her attention back onto the girl next to her.

"I, uhm," the blonde started, nervously running her hand through her hair, smoothing it back behind her ear, "I was just w-wondering if y-you knew any good ma-magic stores…?"

Willow stared at her dumbly. Magic? Was Tara a witch?

Seeing her look, Tara immediately dropped her head, hiding back behind her curtain of hair. "I'm s-sorry. Just forge-get I s-said anything." Her voice was soft and thick, and the redhead could barely hear her even with her enhanced hearing.

"What? No! Tara, Tara, don't worry." Hastening to let her friend know that everything was alright, she quickly placed her hand onto the girl's fabric-clad shoulder, right next to the open collar of her shirt. "It's cool. Really. Sunnydale's a Hellmouth and all, so it really isn't such an odd question, okay?"

"He-hellmouth?" At the mention of the word, Tara looked up, and Willow was once again afforded the blue eyes she loved looking into.

"Erm…" The redhead scratched the back of her neck, realizing that she may have said too much. Quirking her lips into a smile, she raised her eyebrows, and explained, "Mystical convergence, dueling powers, yadda yadda. If you're a Wicca…?" Willow couldn't help holding her breath until Tara answered the question.

The blonde nodded, a small smile gracing her lips.

"Whooh." Willow let out a sigh of relief. "Good. If you were an evil witch or reincarnation of an old, ancient demon," Tara suddenly looked slightly uncomfortable at that sentence, so she hurried on, "that would not be good, and I would not answer your question. But as you aren't, yes, there is a magic store nearby. And, as I was saying, if you were a Wicca, you'd of course feel the pull of negative energy, right?"

Tara nodded, shifting slightly on her feet. In their mutual embarrassed silence, Willow took the time to survey the blonde discretely.

That day, Tara was wearing a light green denim jacket with an Indian patterned shirt underneath. A clip was holding most of her bangs away from her face, and she wasn't wearing any makeup to speak of, just the light pink lip gloss again. The rose quartz was again around her neck, but it wasn't alone; a black plastic wire choker was also secured. A long red velvet skirt finished her outfit, accentuating the swell of her hips, her legs once again obscured by her big combat boots.

As Willow's eyes made their silent trek down the girl's body, she couldn't stop the sudden solid thumping of her heart deep in her chest. She had to shift to stop the undulating of her tail.

"So…" she started, trying to draw attention away from the awkwardness, "What class do you have first?" Also realizing that she and Tara had stopped walking again, she started, drawing the taller girl to follow her.

Offering her a smile, Tara walked in step, her boots semi-loud on the concrete sidewalk. "I ha-have Marine Bio."

"Oh, cool! I wanted to take that this year, but it wouldn't give me enough credits. I'm thinking I should take it next year; it'd fit nicely into my junior block."

"Y-you're a sophomore?" Tara asked suddenly, giving her a surprised look.

Willow frowned before she realized that they hadn't discussed their ages at all. She had automatically assumed Tara was her age. Was she wrong? "You're not?" she asked, hoping that the taller girl wouldn't be automatically bored with her. What if she was a senior and decided that she didn't want to hang out with a stupid sophomore? The redhead felt herself begin to wilt.

Tara reached out and gently touched her arm, right above her wrist. Looking up in surprise, Willow saw the blonde's lopsided smile and gentle blue eyes looking at her calmly, "H-hey. No worries. High School's re-relative, right? No, I'm not."

"Oh. Oh?" Willow didn't know what to say in response. How had she read her so well? "So…" she inquired, "What grade _are_ you in?" She still felt slightly self-conscious.

"Junior," Tara blushed, seemingly realizing that she hadn't said that earlier.

Impossibly, another warm feeling gushed through Willow's stomach, and she had to turn away so Tara couldn't see her silly smile. Somehow, the knowledge that the object of her affection was older than her just made her more appealing.

They walked silently together, the confusing last moments giving Willow some things to mull over in her head. It was no surprise to herself that what had happened with Wesley and Faith, and even Buffy, and now Tara was starting to make Willow's life a whole lot harder to deal with. If she could just share her secret with someone, anyone, her life would get a whole lot easier…

***

She and Tara parted their ways when they reached the steps of Sunnydale High. Watching the older girl walk off with an expression akin to longing, Willow made her way to the library for early morning meeting number fifty-four.

Slamming the doors open upon her entrance, she smiled sheepishly when Giles looked up from behind the desk, staring pointedly at her. "Sorry, Giles," she offered, walking over to him, leaning against the desk. She wasn't sure if she was addressing that morning or her abrupt entrance.

The Englishman just sighed noisily and turned back to the notes he had been previously studying. Sliding his glasses back onto his nose, he looked up at her again, silently.

Blanching, the mutant felt the collar of her sweater begin to scratch against her skin. She always hated it when adults waited for her to say something first. It made her feel ten times more responsible and guilty. Deciding to take the easy way out, she shifted her feet, resettled her backpack onto her back, and asked perkily, looking around the room, "So, where's Faith?"

"No doubt chasing Buffy around," Giles answered drolly, and Willow snapped her gaze up to see a surprising twinkle in his eyes.

"I, what, you know about that?" she finally squeaked out.

"Willow, Faith has the subtlety of a five thousand pound minotaur."

The redhead blinked at the comparison, but saw the logic. She allowed an amused grin to dawn on her face. In his own sweet way, Giles was letting her know she wasn't in any trouble.

"No, she doesn't, does she. Have you even seen them together?"

Giles' eyes widened momentarily, and an almost complete look of horror settled over his face. "Good Lord," he blustered, rising from his seat, "I don't think I'd want to see that." Seemingly changing his train of thought, he disappeared into his office, reappearing holding a box of donuts out to her, "Here, we stopped on the way here."

"Thank you." Reaching for her usual sprinkled jelly-filled ring of heaven, Willow slid out from her backpack and finally took the seat she had been wanting to, hoisting herself up easily onto the checking-out desk.

Idly kicking out her legs, she munched happily away, knowing that there was still time before the bell rang and anyone else would venture inside the library. Sensing that Giles was staring at her, she turned her head back to look at him.

Upon seeing the motion and knowing he had been caught, Giles cleared his throat, finally asking her, "How do you keep your tail hidden like that?"

Willow looked down at herself, not seeing anything odd. She looked up with a confused expression, "Huh?"

"Are you…sitting on it?"

"Oh." Willow swung around, hopping off lightly. She was actually surprised that her in the meantime guardian hadn't asked that earlier. "Sort of, yeah," she admitted, adjusting her long, baggy black pants. She blushed. She really didn't want to go and tell him the exact mechanics. It wasn't –exactly- perverted, but it wasn't exactly the most comfortable, either.

Giles must have noticed her blush, because he suddenly realized that perhaps he should drop the topic. "Well, never mind, dear," he started, wiping his glasses with his rag, "You want another donut?"

"Of course!" Squealing and giving him a big grin, she accepted the escape. She immediately stuffed another donut into her mouth. The apple and cereal she had eaten that morning had already made its way through her system. Being a mutant did that to you.

She was licking the stickiness of her third donut off of her fingers when Faith and Buffy walked in. Willow felt a sick feeling burst into her chest, and she lost the happy smile she had had on her face. She opened her backpack and retrieved a book, pretending to read.

"Hey Mr. Giles," Buffy's voice easily greeted the Englishman.

"Miss Summers. How may I help you?" Giles' voice was polite, and Willow had a slight mental giggle at how he would react if he knew she was the Slayer he was searching for.

"Oh, you don't have to do anything," Buffy said, her voice coming closer as Willow could hear her walking towards where she was sitting, "I was actually looking for Willow here. Hey Willow."

Surprised a bit at the acknowledgment, the redhead slid the bottom of the book down, letting her eyes peer out over it. In truth, she hadn't even been reading the text – and as she idly scanned it on its way down, she realized she had already read that part the day before – so pausing to answer the blonde's greeting wasn't too hard to do. Smiling slightly, she replied, "Hey Buffy. What's up?"

Faith moved in and leant against the desk that Willow was seated on, watching the two of them interact. She snagged herself one of the leftover donuts and then offered one to Buffy, who accepted it with a huge smile, "Here, B."

"Thanks Faith," the blonde grinned at her, and then turned back to Willow, who was waiting patiently, even if she was annoyed with the two for abandoning her the day before.

"So, you're taking English with Mr. Thomas, right?" Buffy began, taking a bite and chewing slowly.

Willow nodded, a small pout settling itself onto her mouth, and she began to swing her legs back and forth again.

"Well, I'm not quite understanding what he meant when he said…"

The redhead tuned her out. Well, not entirely. Even if her ears and face were turned towards the blonde, her thoughts were not, and as she digested the words spoken to her, she let herself think about other things. Her hands clenched tightly onto the book she still held in her lap and she wondered when she would stop being seen as the uber tutor to go gal.

Before she realized it, she had already agreed to see Buffy that weekend. Smiling widely at her, the blonde's hazel eyes were so full of gratitude as she thanked her and turned to walk out of the library Willow almost felt horrible about not wanting to help her. But as Faith turned and smirked at her after watching the Slayer walking away, she fully decided that she was being way too accommodating.

"So, Red, you mind if I tag along this Saturday…?"

Willow didn't let her finish her sentence. Sliding off of the desk, she thrust her book into her bag, felt self-righteous anger build up in her body, and walked out of the library without saying a word. It was all she could do not to teleport herself out of there.

***

Why was she the only one who seemed to care about the big picture? Faith was too busy following Buffy around like a big puppy, leaving behind Willow to sweep up the pieces of the mess and glue it back together as best as she could. Willow was the one who had to worry about Wesley, Giles, the whole Slayer business. Willow had to worry about her body and touching others and her tail. All Faith had to worry about was worshiping Buffy and using Willow as a means not to get flunked out of school. Even if Willow didn't do her homework word for word, problem for problem, Faith wouldn't even still be in high school if Willow wasn't there!

She stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, hearing the bell echo down the hallway outside. Angry tears pricked at her eyes, and she raised her hand to immediately dash them away. Before she did, however, something made her pause.

She was always trying to be the strong one, wasn't she? Not crying, letting Faith believe that the only times she cried was when the brunette was there to stop it…

She looked deeply into the reflection of her own eyes, marveling at how alien they seemed even to herself. Her natural eyes were completely green, no black or white. Her natural skin was blue and furred, not pink, freckly, smooth. She didn't have ten fingers or toes. She had six fingers, six toes. Her spine didn't end at her tail bone, but instead continued on in the form of a tail with a mind of its own, a sharp triangle of bone at the end. Her ears were long and pointy, not round and pinched to the sides of her head. The only thing that seemed the same, she thought, her lips beginning to tremble, was her hair. As a heartbreaking sob tore itself from her mouth, Willow was once again faced with a lie – her natural pointed canines were now flat.

Faith had used to understand. But then again, Faith didn't used to have Buffy. And Willow had been able to shrug off the pain. But then again, Willow didn't used to have a Tara to lust after and make her feel ashamed about herself.

It wasn't like the elf had a tattoo she could remove to become normal again. There wasn't any plastic surgery she could go through, and she wouldn't even want to do that anyway. As her hands came up to cover her face, trying to hold back the tears from falling, succumbing to the sadness and pain and hopelessness, Willow didn't hear the bathroom door opening behind her.

"Willow?"

The redhead didn't look up, automatically feeling the girl's presence and hearing the surprise in her voice. Almost rolling her eyes at the irony but fearing that it would start the tears anyway, all she did was hunker down lower and will the girl to go away.

Buffy ignored her mental request. Walking forward, she crouched down, reaching out a hand to gently touch Willow's shoulder, moving into her line of sight. "Hey, Wills', you alright?"

"Sure," she snuffled.

"You don't seem alright," the blonde pressed, and Willow couldn't avoid her soft hazel gaze. "What's wrong? Was it because I asked you to tutor me?"

Willow shook her head, almost laughing. Feeling more tears track down her skin, she said thickly, "No, not really. I… Buffy?"

"Yeah?" Buffy was softly rubbing her back.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, but… I sorta want to be alone right now."

"Oh." Buffy's eyebrows furrowed for a second, and her lips pursed, but she eased back on her heels. "Okay. I understand. Been there. Done that." Patting her on the shoulder again, she rose. She paused, and then asked, "Is there anything I can do before I go? I just… I want to help."

Willow knew the feeling. It was hard being mad with the idea of Buffy when she was being so nice to her. Smiling lopsidedly so the blonde knew the question was appreciated, she just shook her head. "No. Thanks."

"Yeah. Okay." Smiling brightly for a second, Buffy hugged her quickly for a second, stepped away, and exited the bathroom

The redhead watched her go before dropping her chin to her chest. Bringing up one of her thick fingers, she touched the place where Buffy's lips had inadvertently brushed against her forehead. She knew that the tips of her ears were blushing.

***

Giles gave her a concerned look when she came back into the library, fifteen minutes late. Flashing him a quick smile so he knew that she was okay, she quietly took her seat next to Faith, already pulling her history book out of her bag.

Faith looked at her with her eyebrows scrunched. "Red? You alright?"

Almost sighing at the sense of déjà vu she felt, Willow smiled at her best friend. "Five by five, Faithy."

Liquid brown eyes searched her own. Reaching out her hand and rubbing down her arm, the brunette suddenly moved in close, depositing a kiss right onto Willow's lips.

Willow's shoulders relaxed. It had been a while since Faith had kissed her. Truth be told, she had missed the soft connection.

As her friend moved back, a gentle smirk playing along her full lips, Willow had to reach up and brush some tears away with the back of her hand.

Faith ruffled her hair affectionately, "I'm sorry."

"How do you know it's about you?"

"Cuz' it always ends up being my fault."

Willow laughed softly. She leaned against Faith's strong shoulder, hugging her closely. "Confident, aren't we?" the redhead asked, looking up into her eyes.

Faith slid her arms around her self-assuredly. She felt strong and warm. Like Faith. Like her best friend, not a Slayer obsessed girl. She smelled clean, and Willow relaxed in the embrace of the person she had known all of her life. Tara? Buffy? Wesley? No… This was Faithy, the person she could trust the most.

After a couple of minutes of quiet comfort, she pulled away, brushing her nose with the back of her hand. It always started to run whenever she felt a crying jag coming on. Faith gently brushed her hand through the hair at the back of her neck. A small smile lingered on her lips. "Everything okay now?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah, thanks." She almost blushed at the affection she could see shining in her best friend's eyes. Turning back to her work, she thought, You better get a hold of yourself, girl… But hormones are never easy to control, now are they?


	6. Chapter 6

***

Willow was busy scribbling in her notebook when the shadow of Tara fell over her. Her heart skipping a beat at the sight of the older girl, she smiled up and shut her book, watching as the blonde took the seat next to her. "Hey, how was your first class?" she asked.

"Fine. B-boring, but fine."

"Aren't they all?" Willow rolled her eyes.

"N-no, not always. I find my c-classes enjoyable some-sometimes." Tara smiled lopsidedly at her, setting her own notebook down, dropping her backpack from her shoulders.

"Oh, yeah, me too." The redhead admitted, slightly embarrassed. So much for looking cool, she thought.

Tara giggled slightly, leaning towards her. "Well, then, you-your secret's safe with m-me. I won't tell anyone you actually l-like school."

In mock horror, Willow raised her eyebrows almost to the top of her forehead. "Gosh, no!" she protested, "If you do, I'll tell on you!"

They both laughed this time. Out of the corner of her eye, Willow could see Faith leaning over Buffy's desk, conversing with her quietly. They both glanced over at her once in a while, and she figured they were talking about her and her episode earlier that day. Figures. She sighed, frowning momentarily. But as she reached up to move an errant bang behind her ear, she could see Tara's happy smile, and she smiled back.

"So anyway," she started, reaching into her backpack and pulling out a completely different notebook, decorated with a large picture of Garfield strangle-hugging Odie and Nermal, and laying it open on her desk, "I started looking into a couple of things we could do for our project."

Curious, Tara scooted her chair over, and for a split second, Willow reveled in the smell of vanilla shampoo as her hair brushed against the side of her face. Shaking her head to concentrate, she moved slightly away so Tara wasn't as close as she had been, trying to make it look natural. Dammit, her body wanted to be closer but her mind wouldn't let her. Grah!

She opened to the first page, pointing at the purple script. "See, this was my first idea, but then I decided that was stupid, so I went on to this," she pointed at the green section of the page. "That didn't seem interesting enough, so I thought of this." This time it was dark blue. As she realized Tara wasn't saying anything, she looked up to see the reason.

Tara was looking down with a slightly amused expression. Sensing that Willow was looking at her and not at the page, she blushed slightly, but then giggled. "R-Rainbow colors?" she asked, smiling brightly.

"Uhm, yeah? I knew it was stupid…"

"No! Not stupid. Quirky." Tara assured her, her nose wrinkling again.

Willow grinned goofily at her. Quirky? Faith had told her it was insane. Hah! Score one for the Willster.

***

She and Tara had actually managed to come up with an idea of how they were going to work that weekend. They decided that they were going to interview the student body of Sunnydale High about their favorite places to eat lunch and their method of transportation to the restaurant, trying to come up with an educated guess about the probability. Willow was going to make some surveys that afternoon in her computer class; come lunchtime, she and Tara could go around handing them out. And on Saturday, they would compile the results and start making a Power Point presentation about their findings.

It was now the said computer class with Miss Calendar. An attractive dark brunette with some gypsy blood in her, Jenny Calendar was one of the only people at the school that knew she and Faith were living with Giles. Since she used to date the Englishman, it was kind of hard hiding that fact from her, as she had been a frequent guest. Willow remembered the first time that Jenny had come to dinner after the mutants' arrival, before Willow and Faith were enrolled.

The two girls were sparring in the living room, the blinds closed so Willow could fight without the distraction of her 'human-ness'. Executing a roundhouse kick at the redhead's nose, Faith spun around, blocking the punch Willow threw at her, pressing forward. Transporting out of her range, Willow appeared behind her, trying to get in a fast chop. However, the brunette anticipated the attack, somersaulting out of the way. Jumping up to her feet, she grinned, taunting the elf forward.

Before Willow could satisfy her request, the doorbell rang.

Not relaxing from her stance at all, Faith asked, "G-man expecting anyone?"

"I don't think so." Willow circled around her friend, feeling the cool air circulate against her heated body, having the unfortunate physiology that she couldn't sweat normally.

"Wan'ta check?"

"You're just going to attack me if I do," Willow tossed back. She tensed her leg, slightly shifting her foot outwards. She gripped the hardwood floor with her toes.

Faith didn't even blink, automatically compensating her weight distribution for the attack she could guess was coming. "Have you no faith?" She smirked at her pun.

Groaning, Willow rolled her eyes, suddenly lunging forward. Catching her, Faith rolled backwards, bringing the other mutant with her. Having cleared out the living room earlier – Giles not having prepared the training room for them just yet – they had a considerable amount of space to grapple in.

"You know, we're offerin' up a lotta noise. Wonder what the person outside mus' be thinking?" Faith offered genially, slamming Willow's head into the floor.

Struggling out of the stronger girl's grip, Willow pushed herself off of the wood with her palms, twisting in the air so she could smash her feet into Faith's cheek, sending the taller girl crashing to the floor. "Dunno," she wiped some blood from her mouth, "But they must be getting some interesting visuals, what with you grunting and all."

"Giles?" called out from the other side of the door. "Rupert? Are you home? I hear noises. Should I let myself in? I do have that key you gave me…" The female trailed off.

Looking at each other, and hearing the unmistakable sound of a key in the lock, Willow and Faith scrambled to barricade themselves into their room, knowing too many questions would be asked if the unknown person saw them.

Hurriedly tossing her friend her adaptor, Faith looked at herself in the mirror, cursing. "Aw, Red. You gave me a fuckin' black eye!"

"You know it'll heal quickly," Willow retorted, exchanging her shorts for some baggy sweats she could hide her tail in. "Besides, you split my lip." She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to make it look normal, "You ready to see who this mystery person is?"

Faith shrugged, rolling her shoulders. "I'm game if you are."

"Giles must have done some emergency decorating…" Willow's sensitive ears caught. The woman sounded in her late twenties, a slight accent the redhead couldn't decipher. Studying her from behind, creeping silently down the stairs, Willow could already hear the silent whistle her friend was going to give. She hit her arm to stop her from commenting. Faith shot her a disgruntled look but knew exactly why the redhead had done it.

The woman in Giles' living room was very attractive, tall and fit in the way that spoke of natural good shape, even if they couldn't see her face quite yet. She had short black hair and was wearing a somewhat conservative pantsuit, but it was tailored. She was looking curiously around the living room, and Willow imagined that she was debating whether or not to venture anywhere else, perhaps afraid of what she might find.

Faith and Willow popped up behind her. Giving a slight cry, the dark haired woman whirled around, her arms up in defense. The two mutants stared at her, waiting patiently for her to say something.

Her brown eyes wide, the woman finally lowered her arms, asking, "What are you doing here? Are you," she took in the disarray of the room. "You're stealing from Rupert!"

Rupert? They looked at each other, Willow craning her head forward so Faith knew she had the floor. Crossing her arms, the brunette arched an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?" she asked brusquely, ignoring the accusation, "And why do you have a key?"

"Yeah. Giles never mentioned you."

"He didn't?" The woman's shoulders seemed to wilt, and a troubled expression crossed her pretty face.

Willow frowned. Obviously, she had been hurt by that observation. Offering the woman a small smile to put her at ease, she decided to tone down the force of intimidation. "Hey, I'm pretty sure it just didn't cross his mind. We, Faith and I," she gestured at her best friend and herself, "Just got here a week ago, and we've been pretty busy getting everything together."

"Wait," the woman's brow furrowed, and a slightly dismayed look grew in her eyes, "You… Live here?" The woman seemed lost.

"Guess G-man didn't forget telling just us," Faith muttered.

Growing concerned, Willow took a deep breath. "It was kind of sudden. Do… Do you want a drink? Tea? Faith can explain everything while I go get it." At the woman's nod, she scurried off.

Giles, you didn't bother mentioning that you had a girlfriend!? she accused the air, shaking her head. Great basis for a relationship. You don't even have pictures of her around!

She took out a couple of mugs, turning on the stove. Placing the tea kettle that always lived by the stove on the fire, she sighed, resting her lower back on the kitchen counter. "Girlfriend?" she asked.

Faith nodded, walking up to rest beside her, "Yep. But not too much longer, I bet. I know the English are absent-minded, but jeez." Her brown eyes were sad. "You should see her in there. She's hurt."

Willow blew the air out of her lungs. "Why'd it have to be us?" she asked.

"No, don't sweat it. I think they were on the rocks before. I've learned that once a key is given, the relationship's pretty much dead. It's a desperation type thing."

"And how do you know that? I thought your longest relationship was with your hand?" she teased. "I don't believe you need a key for that."

Faith shoved her away, the both of them laughing. "Really?" the taller mutant asked, "You're one to talk."

Willow blushed. "Hey."

"Don't dish it if you can't take it," Faith wagged her finger at her.

With a few more minutes of banter as they waited for the kettle to whistle, Willow suddenly stood up straight. "Ready to make ourselves scarce?" she asked, staring at the kitchen wall, "Incoming."

"Giles' home?"

"Yep. Why don't we let him deal with this?"

Faith nodded. "Bronze?"

"Sure."

Turning off the stove, they quickly scampered out of the house, trying not to stare as they ran past the two awkward blocks of stone in the living room.

Giles and Jenny's relationship hadn't lasted through the month. Now, as they were off – but still obviously in love with each other – Willow couldn't help but act as nice as she could around Jenny. She really did like the woman, after all. And even if she did have some problems with the keyboard, Miss Calendar's computer class was her favorite. Jenny didn't seem to hold anything against the two teenagers, and always had time to chat after class and help Willow on some of the trickier homework. The redhead sometimes thought that through her was the only way the woman could get news on Giles (she didn't want to think about their staff meetings).

So she was now working on her homework. She had figured out how to type on a normal computer years ago, even if she did own a specially made laptop Professor Xavier had given her. It was blue, and Willow called it Mini-Me, a fact for which Faith teased her endlessly. Mini-Me was currently safe and snug in a case in her room at Giles' house.

Huh, her mind wandered, I still can't call Giles' house home. The mansion would always be her home, she figured, having lived there for most of her sixteen years. She closed her eyes for a second, homesickness washing over her. When she opened them, she noticed that her fingers had slipped, causing gibberish to be written all over the survey. "Heh," she mused out loud, her sadness ebbing away, "Tara wouldn't like that, now would she? Change it, I must." Giggling, she did so.

"What kind of freak are you?"

What? Willow's heart stopped for a second and she immediately patted her lower back. No, that wasn't it. She looked up to see Cordelia Chase standing over her.

Still sore over the drunken fling she had had with Faith, the head cheerleader had decided that she would take her frustrations out on the object of her anger's best friend. Willow sighed, getting ready for a confrontation: she saved her work.

"Yes, Cordelia?"

The brunette swept hair away from her face, her perfectly manicured nails shining in the light. Her makeup was flawless, and her clothes were spotless and wrinkle-free. Willow took all this in with an impassive eye – she was waiting for the perfect lips to part and let loose a flow of masterfully controlled anger to puncture Willow's weakening hide. She wasn't disappointed.

"What is up with your hands? Are you retarded or something? I mean," the cheerleader paused, posing thoughtfully with her hand on her hip and looking faux-sympathetic, "I have nothing against the mentally and physically impaired – it's not my fault I'm perfect – but that's just sad."

Willow curled her fingers into her palms reflexively. She wasn't expecting the attack on her physique, so she hadn't erected the correct mental shield. She looked away, her hair falling to cover her eyes, "I… A muscle complication…" She swallowed, feeling her throat tighten.

Cordelia smirked. Leaning in, she wiggled her fingers in front of Willow's face, each one separately.

Willow wouldn't let herself look away. Her palms were starting to bruise.

"Well, I guess it's not all bad." Cordelia stressed the word all, sitting back. She hadn't lost the conspiratorial look on her face, though, and her piercing brown eyes speared the smaller girl to her seat, "I guess your girlfriend would just love it, wouldn't she?"

Willow gasped, hot shame splashing her cheeks with color.

"Cordelia!" Miss Calendar's voice barked across the room.

"Yes?" Cordelia answered, the picture of innocence.

Jenny walked forward, a frown creasing her forehead. She looked back and forth between the two girls, about to say something but changed her mind, "Why aren't you working on your project?"

Cordelia shrugged, pouting a little. "I was. I was just asking Willow the difference between the shift and control button." She laughed, tossing her head back, "Well, now I know. Thanks, Willow dear." The brunette turned back, sticking out her hand in a cruel pantomime of a shake.

Willow looked away, gritting her teeth. She would not cry. She would not cry.

"Oops, sorry! Not." Cordelia took her hand away. She walked back to her seat, saying loudly, "Why would I want to touch that?"

Willow wanted to yell after her, curse her. "You want to see how much of a freak I am?" she wanted to call, turn off her adaptor, and terrorize the other girl. Instead, she sat at her desk, willing the earth to go away.

Why did Cordelia comment on her appearance? Why couldn't she have taunted her clothing? Her hair? Why today? Normally, she would have been able to shrug everything off, chalk it up to jealousy. But this? Cordelia's words had sliced through her with an ease she hadn't expected.

Jenny gently touched her shoulder. "Willow?" she asked, her face carefully schooled to look expressionless.

Willow mustered a grin, her eyes swimming with tears.

"You want me to write you a pass to the library?"

Willow thought about the offer. It would be nice to get away. However, that would mean that Cordelia had accomplished exactly what she had been trying to do – make Willow admit that she was different. Taking a deep breath, she swallowed back her tears and shook her head, wiping her nose surreptitiously. "No. Thanks." She grinned furtively, hoping that Jenny got it. Her chin trembled.

Miss Calendar nodded, smiling briefly. She squeezed Willow's shoulder and walked back to the front of the class.

Willow pressed her hand to her head firmly, squeezing her eyes shut. When she was able to see the computer screen without a film of blurriness, she went back to typing. She made sure not to look at her fingers.

***

This was getting ridiculous. Willow stabbed her fork as hard as she could into an unsuspecting piece of broccoli.

Xander, having already stuffed his whole sandwich into his mouth, gulping it down after three big chews, grinned at her. "What'd the vegetable ever do to you?"

"It existed," Willow hissed, bringing it up to her eyes, where it hung limply. With a growl, she bit the head off and chewed. Immediately, her fierce expression turned to one of disgust, and she made herself swallow, washing it down with her carton of milk. "Ew, yuck," she moaned, shivering. "Hurrah for existing."

"That sure got you back," Xander patted her on the back. "What were you thinking, getting cafeteria food?"

Willow groaned at him, laying her head down on the table after making sure that it was clean. "Temporary loss of mental capacity."

"What a what?"

"Insanity."

"Oh. Right." Xander unwrapped a Twinkie, offering one to her, "You and your big words. Why can't you just say it upfront?"

The redhead stared at the teenage boy, finally shutting her eyes. She ignored the yellow piece of chemical. "I like to be mysterious," she finally quipped, pushing herself up.

"No, you just like to watch Law and Order: SVU." Faith slid her tray next to the redhead's, taking the seat next to her. "She likes to think about that attorney person at night, don't you, Red?"

Willow blanched at her. "Faith!" she protested, slapping the brunette's shoulder.

"What? It's true. I can hear it at night: 'Alex! Oh, Alex!'"

The redhead blushed. "I don't do that anymore," she grumbled, pouting and crossing her arms across her chest.

Faith smirked at her. She tilted her head, letting a lock of hair trail down her cheek. "True. Now it's: 'Tara! Tara! Ooh, right there-!'"

Willow stood up and tried to push her best friend over. "Ix-nay on the Ara-tay!" she hissed.

Faith wrestled her away, laughing. Her eyes sparkling, she pinned Willow's hands onto her waist, making the elf lose balance and fall into her lap. "Oh? What're you going to do to me?" she asked innocently.

Willow tried to struggle up, but the other girl's strength kept her in the unflattering position. "Faith, my tail!"

"What?" Faith laughed, keeping her down, "I can't hear you Red. What do you want?"

"Faithy! My tail!" Willow wiggled back and forth. Why couldn't her friend remember that?

"Oh, please, don't stop on my account," Xander breathed. "Aguh…"

"Oh, gross, guys. You sure you're not together?"

"Buffy!" Instantly, Faith let go of Willow, and she went tumbling, barely missing hitting her head on the table. Stunned, she stared at the gum encrusted surface above her head.

The blonde's voice was full of laughter. Willow could see her legs take a seat right across from where she was a little while ago, "You gonna check on your 'girlfriend'? Or better yet, poor Xander. He looks like he had a heart attack."

"Hardy har har." Xander shot back.

The floor was cold. Willow didn't feel like moving. Wasn't anyone going to help her up?

Xander scraped his chair back. Gradually, his head appeared, and he looked at her curiously. "I think she's," he started, grunting as he angled his torso up, clearing the table, "dead. You broke her."

Faith nudged her with her foot, not bothering to look at her, "I don't hear her moaning in pain. Can't be all that bad." Willow could imagine the brunette shrugging and getting back to ogling Buffy.

Taken aback, she jerked her elbow into her body, not wanting Faith to kick her again.

Another scraping of a chair alerted her attention to the other side of the table. "Why is Wi-Willow under the table?" Tara's head suddenly appeared under the table, a concerned expression on her face. She smiled at Willow.

"Oh, she's just moping that I know her secret," Faith laughed, her voice rumbling through.

Frowning, the blonde disappeared for a second, and Willow felt instantly bereft. However, her sadness didn't last long, Tara suddenly reappearing with her backpack and lunch tray in tow. Willow, having sat up, watched in shock as the other girl maneuvered herself next to her, hunching over.

"You okay?" the blonde asked quietly.

Willow could only nod dumbly. "I, what? What're you doing down here? It's yucky!"

Tara's eyebrow rose, but she smiled a little. "If it's so yu-yucky, what are YOU doing down here?"

The elf's heartbeat started to pound, and she took in a deep breath. Crowded close together, she imagined the heat of the other girl's skin, and she started to babble. "Uhm, I'm expanding my horizons, exploring the school for new hang out spots, you know? Like, the obvious places are taken, and I thought to myself, Self: You need to find a place that's unique, and no one, absolutely no one, can take it away from you!" A determined expression settled onto her face.

"What are you talking about down there?" Buffy's voice filtered down, and with a slight scraping of chair legs, appeared below. Flashing a quick smile at Tara and Willow, she shook her head and explained, "No, Faith just pushed her down there."

"Gee, thanks, B." Faith drawled, opting not to show herself.

Tara's eyes widened, and she snuck a quick look at the now pouting redhead, "Wha-why?"

Willow shrugged, her pride still hurt. "Who knows why Faith does the things she does?" Inside, the ever growing hole was getting bigger.

Tara nodded at Buffy, who, having decided that her work there was done, straightened back up after a quick reassuring smile at Willow. Tara then gazed quietly at Willow who fidgeted for a second, trying hard not to think about anything. Finally, seemingly coming to some decision, the blonde handed her the cupcake that came from her tray.

"I, uh," Tara stuttered shyly, smiling self-consciously, "N-noticed that you had l-left your own up th-there."

A big smile threatened Willow's face, and she felt a warmth seep through her body. Accepting the proffered gift with a big grin and a thank you, she played with the sweet in her hands, not willing to eat it just yet.

Tara blushed back at her.

Just then, her watch beeped an alarm. Gasping, Willow straightened up, forgetting about where she was and banging her head against the bottom of the table. Groaning, she made her way out from under the table, followed quickly by Tara. "Grah!" she exclaimed, hurriedly grabbing her backpack, "How could I have forgotten about the time!?"


	7. Chapter 7

AN: I know this is a short chapter, but I couldn't help ending it where I did. *evil cackle*

* * *

Slumping against the side of the wall, Willow played with the sleeve of her shirt. Staring at the ground with slightly crossed eyes, she sighed for the fifth time. Letting the wind play with her hair, she rolled her shoulders, trying to work out the kinks that had gathered through the course of the day.

It was Thursday, which meant she had one more day to deal with before the weekend. And there, rest, hopefully.

When Buffy and Faith finally appeared from within the halls of Sunnydale High, Willow walked quickly to meet up with them. Feeling vulnerable with the knowledge that Wesley was waiting for them at Giles' house, the elf wanted Faith's solidness to fall back on.

Faith grinned at her, her brown eyes close to twinkling. Her arm was casually slung over Buffy's shoulders, and she quirked an eyebrow at her closest friend, "Hey, Red. You don't mind if I skip the walk home today, do you? B here wants to scope out the town, and I figured I'd a help her with it. You fine with that?"

Willow stared at her, her mouth open. "I, what?" she blinked. Her tail tensed helplessly.

Buffy offered her a small smile, though her eyes flashed quiet sympathy.

Feeling the anger that had been broiling within her, Willow struggled against the urge to yell, grab the brunette's shoulders and shake them. Instead, she snapped her mouth shut, whirled around and stomped off, shoulders shaking with repressed rage.

"Will? Willow!" Faith called after her, her deep voice showing concern. With quiet words to Buffy, she broke away and loped after Willow.

Hearing her approach, Willow didn't react, feeling the tears come to her eyes again. A strong hand reached out and caught her arm, pulling her to a stop. "Willow?" she asked. "If you don't want me to go, I won't..."

"Yes, yes you will!" Willow snapped, feeling her heart pound in her chest, her throat tightening. "You don't care! Everything's a joke to you, isn't it?" She rounded on her friend, her hands tightening into fists, her voice unconsciously growing louder.

Faith stared at her, dropping her arm. Stuffing her hands into her back pockets, a closed look shuttered across her face. "This isn't about B and the town, is it."

"No, no it's not." Willow shook her head, a tear trailing down her cheek.

Faith moved to wipe it away, but stopped, letting her arm fall. She took a deep breath inward. "I'm sorry about today at lunch. I was just kiddin'. You know how I am."

But Willow shook her head, and at the look on her face, Faith trailed off, "That's not it, either?"

"Not all. No." Willow shook her head. Her voice was starting to break. Why wasn't Faith reaching out to hug her?

As if sensing her wish, the brunette finally took a step closer, opening her arms. Her brown eyes looked into Willow's, and Willow could see that the strong girl just wanted to make things right.

Willow wanted to reach out and accept the hug. She wanted to fall against the strong body and feel safe again.

Instead, she turned and walked away.

*

Once she got to her room, Willow pounded her pillow with her fists, screaming at the top of her lungs. Damn her, damn her, damn her! Why was Faith being so fucking _stupid_? Throwing herself off of her bed, she stalked over to her closet and grabbed her coat. Shoving her feet into her shoes, she stomped out of the room, down the stairs, and, ignoring Wesley who stood in the kitchen staring at her with surprise, she exited the house, slamming the door behind her. She hoped she could find something to do at Willie's.

*

A shadow fell over her onto the table she was propping her elbows on. Looking up through slightly bleary eyes, from alcohol or tears she wasn't sure which, Willow frowned at the teenage girl standing in front of her. "What do you want?" escaped from her mouth before she could stop it. She rubbed her eyes blearily with one hand.

The girl, a brunette with not quite shoulder length hair smirked at her. Abruptly, she slid into the booth next to Willow, who quickly grabbed her drink and scooted away, "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, sorry, not really," the girl said flippantly, leaning forward to stare at the redhead.

"Uuuhm…?" Leaning back a little clumsily, Willow stared back.

The girl's brown eyes seemed to look _through _her. Finally, with a satisfied expression and a little ahah!, she moved back. Snapping her fingers, she didn't look away from Willow as she ordered her own beer. Willow was a little surprised when Willie did as he was told; she had thought that she and Faith were the only ones he would bend the rules for. Well, maybe the girl was older than she looked.

"Okay, now, tell me what dimension you come from."

"I-what?"

The girl shook her head, "Oh, cut the crap. I can see through your disguise. That's a nice device, by the way. Where did you get it? Was it expensive?"

Willow's mouth hung open. She was too drunk to deal with this right now. "What…? What device…?" Her brain was slow to provide her with the answer. Oh. The adaptor. Of course.

Rolling her eyes in exasperation, the girl snapped her fingers again. Suddenly, Willow felt sober, freakily so. She figured it was the sudden transition that made her imagine the split second of veins across the girl's face. "Whoah! Rush."

"Yes, yes. Now, what dimension? And how much was the technology?"

Willow sat back against the booth, pushing her drink away from her hands. Now bereft of something to occupy them, she curled them together on her lap. Thoughts flitting wildly though her mind, she could feel some anger rekindling inside of her. "I think it's customary to introduce yourself before you start asking questions."

"Really?"

"Yes. I think so." Willow strengthened her resolve face.

"Huh." The girl mused about that for a second, muttering something about 'stupid human rituals,' before centering her attention back onto the mutant. "Fine. Anyanka. Vengeance Demon of Women Scorned."

Willow's eyes widened. She eeped. "Wow. Sounds… Impressive. What do you want with me?" She could feel herself start to slide down the seat.

The Vengeance Demon shrugged, taking a sip of her beer. "You were here, looked interesting. Kinda like a Grithor Imp but brighter. I love the ears. Can I touch you?"

Stunned, the redhead shook her head. She started inching away.

The demon scowled, rolling her eyes. "Oh, come off it! It's not like I searched you out. I just came in to drink and saw you here. Really, can I touch your ears?"

"I-no!" Sputtering again, Willow weakly slapped Anyanka's hand away from her head. She didn't want the intrusion, but she also didn't want to risk angering the demon. Instead, her efforts were spoiled when the brunette grabbed her hand instead.

The demon's grin widened, her expression a little feral. "Wow. Furry, furry… Let me see that technology!"

"Eep! No!" Trying to wrestle her hand and arm away, Willow realized that she was in much more danger than she had thought. Anyanka's eyes seemed a little wild, and as her head came closer, Willow could smell old alcohol already coating her breath.

She really didn't want to get in trouble with a Vengeance Demon. She imagined it was even _better_ not to get into trouble if the Vengeance Demon was drunk. And why had she come to a bar if she already drunk, anyway?

Furiously scanning the bar and her surroundings, Willow realized she had effectively blocked herself in. She had backed up into the back of the booth, the table cutting off her escape in the other direction, as it was tightly screwed against the wall. The demon's legs blocked her from sliding under the table, her upper body draped over Willow's chest in her drunken quest of grabbing the adaptor, pressing her down. Just as she realized the only way to effectively get away with hopefully the least carnage was to teleport, Anyanka clamped a strong hand around her left wrist.

"Nuh uh, Furry. No teleporting."

"How…" Willow looked down at the brunette's hand. She tried to teleport, but her ability was blocked by a sudden solidness flowing through her body. Small tendrils of disappointed blue smoke floated around her, quickly dissipating.

The other girl rolled her eyes. "Demon, duh. Now, let me see it!" She shimmied up Willow's body, placing more weight on the poor tail trapped between Willow's body and the seat.

Grunting and using all the flexibility she had to keep her right wrist away, the redhead tried to twist her other wrist out of the brunette's grip. Were all Vengeance Demons so strong? And annoying? Willow was quickly losing all her fear, anger spiraling out to take over. With a growl and twist to quickly knee Anyanka's leg above the knee twice in rapid succession, she succeeded in making Anyanka lose her balance, falling straight down onto her. Working with the other girl's drunken surprise, Willow bunched her muscles and rolled both of them off the seat to crash against the floor. Blinding pain shot through her as her elbow slammed point first on the hard surface.

Anyanka screeched, as she had taken the brunt of the fall. To Willow's frustration, she still had mind enough to keep her hand wrapped tight around her wrist.

Willow failed to scramble upright in time. Burning brown eyes bore into her, and there was another flash of veins across Anyanka's face. Suddenly, Willow was blown back like an invisible fist had smashed into her gut, wind pushing more force behind the blow. She flew backwards in a straight line, the top of her head barely skimming the underside of the table, her neck and upper back smashing into the bottom of Willie's bar. Rumbles and noises of surprise filled the air. It was only because Willie had reinforced his bar to withstand the strength of various creatures and demons that the wood didn't buckle and crash down around her.

Shaking her head and twisting her body to stop the stiffness, reaching a hand down to make sure the base of her tail hadn't been crushed, Willow was happy to find that her shoulders had stopped a full-body impact. As she gathered her breath and pushed herself to her feet, a sharp, stinging heat burned from her right wrist. With wide eyes, she realized that torn blue fur and bleeding skin replaced the space on her wrist where the adaptor had been. She snapped her head up, back to the table.

The brunette Vengeance Demon stood there, happily twirling the adaptor around her finger. "Furry," Anyanka drawled, "You really should have paid much more attention to your wrists." She grinned evilly.

"Give that back!" Willow bellowed, her fists clenching, forcing her muscles to loosen so she could get into an offensive stance. Behind the fury that burned on her face, the redheaded mutant's mind roiled and broiled around in her head. She needed that! She couldn't live without it!

"No."

"What!?" Shock punched a freezing hole into her stomach, the cold spreading through her body.

Anyanka glared at her, anger twisting her pretty features. "I was going to, you idiot. I just wanted to see it. But then you had to go ahead and attack me." She tossed her hair. "I think I'll hold onto this for a while."

The noise in the background became louder, and Willow's sensitive ears could pull individual voices out of the crowd of demons and vampires: "I didn't know she was blue. Did you?" "Heh, cat fight." "Ooh, _someone's_ going to be in trouble." "A pint of blood on the veiny one!" "You're on! Twenty kittens on the blue girl."

The last exchange inflamed her (poor kitties, a voice in the back of her head whispered), and in desperation, she leaped forward, looking to tackle the figure opposite her. As she did so, the brunette sighed, rolled her eyes, and then pulled her arms down next to her waist. Blue fingers curled into claws, they barely touched Anyanka's shirt before the demon disappeared in a glittery shower of gold. Willow wasn't able to stop her forward momentum, so she just barely managed to twist her body around to slam against the wall with her feet and hands in a crouching position, her feet scrabbling a little due to the tennis shoes she was wearing.

Where…? Where the hell did she go!? Jumping gracefully to the floor, Willow shook. Her adaptor was gone. It was gone. Her adaptor… Without it… Tara flashed in front of her eyes, her expression one of disgust, shrinking away in fear. Buffy followed, and then Xander. Cordelia laughed, snickering about how she was right.

Heart pounding in panic, Willow knew she needed to get to Giles. He would… Would he know what to do? Yes! She thought, pushing away the unsure feeling, he would be able to fix this. He and Faith. They had to.

With a plan halfway cemented in her mind, Willow shouldered her way out of the bar, ignoring the indignant squawking of Willie and the disappointed grumbles from demons that wanted to see the fight continue. She heard one vampire protest that Anyanka had cheated, so the bet was nil.

Once outside, safely wrapped in the darkness and shadow of night – had she really been drinking for that long? – she scaled the building to reach the roof. As soon as she reached the top safely, she bent down to untie her shoes, tying the laces together so she could hang them around her neck. Her socks quickly followed, stuffed into the shoes. Scanning the area for the journey back, the mutant tried to stop the failure she was feeling, as it was making her muscles tremble. Biting back the sob she felt welling up in her throat, she threw herself off the roof, catching the brick wall of a taller building.

Buildings and telephone wires and countless cement walls passed in a blur as she bounded towards Giles' house. She barely noticed the burn of muscles and aches of pain. All she concentrated on was the wind blowing past her and making sure she didn't fall while taking dangerous chances.

This was even worse than the circumstances that had brought her and Faith to this dimension. Within time, she knew, Forge would be able to build a machine to get them back. As it was a disaster involving a stolen invention of his that caused their banishment, he was the only one with the capability to bring them back. However, while in the attack that the Dimension Hopper Ray Gun (the name Willow and Faith had come up with) was stolen, the genius inventor had unfortunately been on the receiving end of a brutal power blast that trapped him in a coma.

Yes, this was even worse. At least then Willow had Faith who would take care of her and fix any problems that came up. But in this situation, there was no telling if Anyanka would ever come back, and if she didn't, there was no way Faith would beat her up for her. Pausing on a ledge that also held a gargoyle, Willow beat her head with her hands. What was she going to DO???

A tingling in the back of her head was the only thing that saved her from a stake burying itself into her chest. Having fallen sideways to dodge, Willow teleported herself safely to the ground, welcoming the sound of the bamf. Indeed, the blue smoke that accompanied the teleportation seemed extra thick, as if it was happy that it was able to be produced again, no Vengeance Demon in sight.

"Whoah!" A fist suddenly headed towards her head, and she dodged, twisting on her heel to duck and move in and under the blow, grabbing the offending hand. With barely any thought, she threw the person it belonged to over her shoulder.

A feminine grunt and the familiar feeling of leather under her hands told Willow exactly who she had slammed into the ground. At her feet, shocked green eyes meeting her own, Buffy Summers lay frozen in the process of pushing herself up.

Fuck.


End file.
